Perseverance Reveals How Complex Water Systems Shaped the Jezero Crater on Early Mars

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

DNA discovery on Shroud of Turin corroborates biblical account of Jesus's resurrection

• READ MORE: Noah's Ark resting place '100% confirmed' after 4,300 years as astonishing 'man-made' structure is detected buried deep underground

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

The burial cloth believed to have wrapped the body of Jesus following the crucifixion is one of the most studied and fiercely debated artifacts in history.

Known as the Shroud of Turin, the 14-foot-long linen bears an image of a man embedded in the fibers.

While radiocarbon dating in the 1980s pointed to a medieval origin, some researchers have argued that other evidence on the linen tells a different story.

A recent analysis of fibers removed from the cloth produced results that appear to align the mysterious relic with its biblical origins. 

A team of Italian researchers analyzed linen fibers removed from different areas of the Shroud during a 1978 investigation using next-generation sequencing that can search millions of genetic fragments at once.

They detected a rare human genetic lineage found mainly in the Near East, particularly among the Druze people of the Holy Land, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The scientists also discovered salt-loving microorganisms associated with highly saline environments, raising the possibility that the cloth was once preserved or stored near saltwater.

The study, which has been peer-reviewed, was recently reported by Vatican News, which stated: 'These findings seem to confirm a sojourn of the Shroud in the Middle East and in a saline environment, such as near the Dead Sea, adding another piece to the mosaic of scientific evidence supporting the Shroud’s authenticity.'

The relic is believed to be the burial cloth that wrapped Jesus after he died on the cross and is said to bear his image left after the resurrection. The Shroud is housed inside the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy

However, the researchers stressed that the DNA cannot prove the cloth covered Jesus or determine whether it is medieval or 2,000 years old. 

The first public appearance of the Shroud was documented in Lirey, France, in the 1350s, when a knight named Geoffroi de Charny put it on display. How he acquired the cloth is unknown.

The new study, published in Scientific Reports on July 9, 2026, builds on the team’s 2015 DNA analysis of particles and fibers collected from the Shroud in 1978.

This time, researchers used more advanced sequencing technology to examine a separate collection of 12 samples taken during the same investigation but not included in the 2015 study.

The research, led by Dr Gianni Barcaccia, professor of genetics and genomics at the University of Padua in Italy, aimed to uncover biological clues about the mysterious relic’s long and complicated journey.

The 2015 study analyzed particles collected from the Shroud in 1978 and threads associated with its 1988 radiocarbon testing, uncovering DNA from at least 19 plant species and mitochondrial lineages attributed to at least 14 people.

Researchers reported that 55.6 percent of the human DNA sequences corresponded to Near Eastern lineages and 38.7 percent to Indian lineages, although the material could have accumulated through centuries of handling.

Those figures describe the proportion of classified DNA sequences, not the percentage of people who handled the cloth or the ancestry of the Shroud itself.

The new study analyzed samples of the cloth that was previously taken in a 1978 investigation. This allowed them to use advanced technology for a new DNA analysis  

Above are samples taken from the Shroud in 1988 to determine the age. The pieces were removed from the edges of the cloth

The 2026 analysis revealed extensive modern contamination alongside skin microbes, fungi, salt-loving microorganisms, plants, animals and Mediterranean coral.

A maternal DNA lineage frequently found among Ashkenazi Jews was dominant in three Shroud samples. However, the same genetic signature belonged to Professor Pierluigi Baima Bollone, who collected the samples in 1978.

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

• Shroud of Turin discovery places burial cloth at time of Jesus' death 

The researchers therefore concluded that much of this DNA probably came from Bollone, or a close relative, while the samples were being handled, rather than from the man originally wrapped in the cloth.

The team also detected three other maternal lineages, including H1b, which is common in Europe, and H2a2, which may appear because it is used as a standard genetic reference.

The rare H33 lineage was also identified. It is found today in Near Eastern groups, especially among the Druze, an Arabic-speaking ethno-religious minority living in the Holy Land, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

‘The Druze population shares a common genetic ancestry with Jews and Cypriots, and has historically intermingled with other Levantine populations, including Palestinians and Syrians,’ the team wrote.

H2a2 and H33 had already been detected in the 2015 research, so their presence was not an entirely new discovery.

The 2026 researchers were also unable to reconstruct with confidence the minor South Asian maternal lineages reported in the 2015 samples.

The samples contained an unusually large number of slightly different mitochondrial DNA variants scattered throughout the genetic material.

The mixture showed that numerous people touched or otherwise came into contact with the Shroud, making it extremely difficult to identify DNA belonging to the person originally wrapped in the cloth.

Evidence of repeated handling was also found in the form of common skin bacteria, including Cutibacterium and Staphylococcus.

Researcher detected a rare human genetic lineage found mainly in the Near East, particularly among the Druze people of the Holy Land, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria

Salt-loving microorganisms known as archaea suggested that the material encountered highly saline conditions, possibly during storage or when the flax was processed in brackish or salty water.

However, researchers also found Debaryomyces hansenii, a fungus commonly found in cheese and extremely salty water, along with other fungi. This makes it difficult to determine exactly where or how the microorganisms reached the Shroud.

Because the samples contained very little usable human DNA, researchers broadened their search to include all biological material, such as bacteria, fungi, plants, animals, viruses and salt-loving microorganisms.

Researchers linked some of the biological material to broad regions including the Near East, Europe, Asia, the Mediterranean and the Americas.

The team, however, could not identify specific countries or determine when the traces reached the Shroud.

The wider biological evidence, however, complicated claims that the Shroud originated in first-century Judea.

Researchers detected Mediterranean coral, domesticated animals and crops originating across Europe, Asia and the Americas. 

The strongest plant signal came from carrots resembling European varieties developed during the 1400s and 1500s, while maize, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and peanuts reached Europe only after Columbus.

The findings suggested that much of the biological material accumulated during later centuries. 

No plant was exclusive to the Levant, and researchers noted an absence of flora typical of the Middle East.

Protein testing found no ancient biological material, while radiocarbon dating of two loose threads reflected documented repairs rather than the age of the original cloth.

The researchers ultimately concluded that the evidence cannot establish whether the Shroud was created in medieval Europe or dates back approximately 2,000 years, and does not prove its connection to Jesus.

{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html }

New UFO Files Release | Shocking Videos and Mixed Reactions

A fresh line of UFO videos has sparked buzz across forums, revealing strong visual evidence that's hard to brush off. Amid skepticism, the latest updates are available on a newly organized archive platform. Users express excitement and concerns, raising questions about the authenticity of claims and the nature of these sightings.

Major Releases Draw Attention

The recent UFO video drop is generating considerable controversy. Claims about sightings range from the unexplainable to the downright bizarre. "Where are the clear pics?" one commenter lamented, hinting at general discontent over the lack of visible proof to back the reports.

Users Challenge the Nature of UFOs

The commentary reflects a growing frustration about the changing portrayal of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). "What happened to classic UFOs?" questioned a user, pointing out that many recent reports focus on orbs and tictacs instead of the traditional saucers and triangular shapes.

Another user summed up the sentiment with, "Great! Wake me up when there's better data." Their apprehension suggests that many are looking for substantial evidence rather than vague representations and theories.

Distrust in Authenticity

Amid the excitement, skepticism remains rampant. Some users theorized that these releases are tactics to divert attention from more pressing issues like geopolitical events. One pointedly remarked, "Time to distract the public from Putin joining the Iran war." This comment underscores the distrust some people harbor regarding governmental transparency on UFOs.

The Quest for Physical Evidence

Many individuals are left wondering why alleged UFO encounters are now often more ethereal than tangible. One user’s comment about energy beings highlights a broader concern over how UFOs are portrayed today.

"When are we going to actually see one of the aliens?"

Key Takeaways

• ⚠️ Mixed reactions dominate: skepticism, curiosity, and disappointment across forums.

• ⭐ Users demand concrete evidence, reflecting a shift in the narrative around UFOs.

• 🔍 Some believe the claims coincide with significant global political events, stirring distrust.

As the discourse continues, it remains to be seen how the community will respond to the latest UFO releases and their implications for the ongoing exploration of the unknown.

Glancing into the Future of UFO Discourse

As discussions around the recent UFO files unfold, there’s a high likelihood that skepticism will either intensify or lead to more vocal demands for verifiable evidence. Experts estimate about 70% of people engaging in forums may require substantial proof, which could push authorities to either expedite the release of tangible information or risk further distrust. With global political tensions rising and a possible increase in similar sightings, the next few months may see a surge in both reports and public criticism surrounding government transparency. If the trend continues, we might witness a resurgence in independent investigations into these phenomena, reflecting a significant shift in the public's appetite for clarity.

Reflecting on Historic Hurdles

Interestingly, this situation reminds us of the early days of space exploration in the mid-20th century. At that time, many dismissed the rocket launches as mere government exaggerations, and the public's thirst for evidence pushed scientists and engineers to innovate rapidly. Just as early space missions were met with a blend of curiosity and skepticism, today's UFO reports could fuel a new wave of investigation and innovation. This historical precedent may encourage skeptics to reconsider their stance, similar to how the skepticism surrounding space travel eventually led to a renaissance in science and technology—a relevant reminder of how public perception can drive progress in understanding the unknown.

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{ https://mysterylores.com/  }

Image: ChatGPT

The Search For Alien Technology Has A Measurement Problem – Analysis

By Burak Oktenli

Key Takeaways:

• Bigger AI models can rank, classify, and search at huge scale, but they cannot invent evidence an instrument never recorded. When two explanations produce the same data, no larger model can honestly tell them apart—the limit is identifiability, not compute.
• Radio SETI, including Breakthrough Listen and the blc1 Proxima Centauri candidate later traced to terrestrial interference, shows the gap between finding a candidate and proving its origin. The next step is a new measurement—another site, antenna, geometry, epoch, or diagnostic—not another terabyte of the same ambiguous data.
• Scientific AI should keep detection strength, calibration validity, tested alternatives, and independent follow-up separate instead of collapsing them into one confidence score. Automate ranking and triage; do not let a model promote its own score into a stronger claim without new evidence.
• Bigger models can rank, classify, and search at extraordinary scale. They still cannot manufacture evidence that an instrument never captured.

The most dangerous promise in scientific artificial intelligence is not that machines will make mistakes. It is that they will make certainty out of missing information. As AI systems become better at finding patterns in enormous datasets, the temptation is to assume that a sufficiently powerful model can extract a correct answer from almost any measurement. That is false. Sometimes the obstacle is not computation, model capacity, or training data. Sometimes the decisive information was never measured in the first place.

Radio searches for extraterrestrial technology offer an unusually clear example. Modern programs such as Breakthrough Listen scan vast frequency ranges for narrowband, drifting signals that could be consistent with engineered transmitters. The field has also embraced machine learning. A deep-learning search of 820 nearby stars showed that learned representations can surface candidate signals that conventional filters may miss. That is exactly the sort of task at which AI can excel: ranking, triage, anomaly discovery, and the compression of an impossible search space into a manageable set of things worth examining.

But candidate discovery is not origin discovery. The distinction became vivid in the investigation of blc1, a narrowband signal detected in observations of Proxima Centauri. Its morphology was interesting enough to demand serious follow-up. The eventual analysis traced it to terrestrial radio-frequency interference. The lesson was not that unusual signals are unimportant. It was that a detection statistic is only the beginning of an evidentiary chain.

This point becomes sharper when we ask a simple question: what if two competing explanations generate exactly the same data for the algorithm? Suppose one hypothesis is a target-associated signal and another is a terrestrial interferer that, by chance or geometry, appears only during the same on-target scans. If both produce the same frequency-time track, the same amplitude pattern, and the same scan-by-scan observations, then the two hypotheses induce the same probability distribution over the data given to the model. In that case, no classifier can separate them honestly. Not a larger transformer. Not a deeper neural network. Not a quantum computer. The distinction is absent from the measurement.

That is an identifiability limit, and it changes how we should think about scientific AI. When two hypotheses are observationally equivalent, the next advance must come from experimental design rather than model design. We need a new measurement that causes the hypotheses to predict different outcomes: a simultaneous reference antenna, an independent observing site, a changed pointing geometry, an instrument diagnostic, a different epoch, or some other source of conditionally independent evidence. Another terabyte of the same ambiguous data does not solve the problem.

The same principle appears in more ordinary ways. Reference observations, for example, are often used to reject interference. That can work extremely well when the nuisance really is common to both target and reference scans. But the protection has a cost. If a genuine source leaks into an off-target observation through sidelobes or pointing geometry, a subtraction rule can subtract part of the signal we wanted to preserve, while a hard veto can discard it altogether. A method that looks safer on one axis may quietly become less sensitive on another.

Calibration creates a second trap. A threshold calibrated under one noise model does not retain its meaning after the residual environment changes. In a synthetic stress test I developed for radio technosignature decision rules, thresholds calibrated to an approximately one-percent cadence-level exceedance rate under independent Gaussian residuals produced trigger fractions above fifty percent after a simple time-correlation structure was introduced. Nothing about the threshold number itself warned that its interpretation had collapsed. The problem was not that the detector suddenly became stupid. The statistical conditions supporting the threshold no longer held.

This is why the most important question for scientific AI may not be, “How accurate is the model?” It may be, “Under what measurement conditions does this output still mean what we say it means?” That is a different discipline. It requires separating detection strength from calibration validity, separating a candidate ranking from an origin claim, and recording which alternative explanations have actually been tested.

Engineering already has language for this. NASA’s current standard for models and simulations treats credibility, validation, verification, uncertainty, and acceptance criteria as explicit parts of model use. Scientific AI needs the same instinct. A model should not inherit authority merely because it is sophisticated. Its output should carry the conditions under which it was calibrated, the data it actually observed, the alternatives it cannot distinguish, and the tests still required before escalation.

That discipline matters far beyond SETI. In medical imaging, two diseases can look similar under one modality and diverge only after another test. In climate science, a model can fit the historical record while remaining underdetermined about causal mechanisms. In intelligence analysis, multiple adversary explanations can remain consistent with the same observable behavior. In autonomous systems, a sensor-fusion stack can assign high confidence to a state estimate even when its sensors share a common-mode failure. In each case, more computation can sharpen the inference conditional on the evidence. It cannot supply the missing discriminator.

This should change how we evaluate AI progress in science. Benchmark culture often rewards the highest score on a fixed dataset. But the scientifically important question is often what happens when the assumptions behind that dataset fail. A robust benchmark should therefore include conditions designed to break the method: distribution shifts, correlated residuals, missing reference observations, leakage between supposedly independent channels, nuisance classes that mimic the positive class, and deliberately matched cases in which successful discrimination would reveal data leakage rather than intelligence.

The technosignature community already has many of the ingredients. Tools such as setigen support synthetic signal generation and injection. Published work has explored machine-learning direction-of-origin filtering, while the “cosmic haystack” formalism reminds us that excellent sensitivity within one narrow test family does not imply comprehensive coverage of the wider search space. The broader NASA technosignatures workshop report likewise framed technosignature research as a field in which new instruments, new surveys, new algorithms, and new theory all matter. The missing piece is not another declaration that AI will accelerate discovery. It is a stronger contract between what an algorithm outputs and what the measurement actually warrants.

Such a contract would be simple in principle. A candidate record should keep at least four things separate: the strength of the detected feature; whether the current data remain inside the calibration regime; which conventional or instrumental alternatives have been tested; and what independent observation, if any, supports a stronger interpretation. A fifth field can carry follow-up priority, but that is a resource-allocation decision, not a probability of origin. Collapsing all of these into one confidence score creates an audit problem: after the fact, nobody can tell which assumption carried the claim forward.

The same asymmetry should govern automation. AI can reasonably automate low-level transitions: ingest data, flag anomalies, compare a statistic with a frozen threshold, rank candidates, and request additional observations. But an automated system should not be allowed to convert its own score into a stronger scientific claim without new evidence. Promotion should require a named test or an independent measurement. Demotion, by contrast, should be easy. If a calibration assumption later fails, the system should be able to return every affected candidate to an earlier evidentiary state while preserving the record of what was previously believed and why.

This is not an argument against AI in science. It is an argument for using AI where it is strongest. Machines are extraordinarily good at searching spaces too large for humans, identifying weak structure, prioritizing scarce attention, and proposing where to look next. Those capabilities could transform astronomy and many other sciences. But scientific authority should attach to evidence, not to model scale.

The phrase “AI for discovery” therefore needs one amendment. AI can accelerate the path to discovery. It can expose patterns that deserve investigation. It can help design the next observation. It can tell us that our current measurement is inconsistent with the assumptions under which our old threshold was calibrated. What it cannot do is infer a distinction that the experiment never encoded.

That boundary is not a limitation to be embarrassed about. It is a design instruction. When the model cannot know, the answer is not always a bigger model. Sometimes the answer is a better instrument, a second sensor, a new control, an independent site, a different observing geometry, or a more honest statement of uncertainty. The future of scientific AI will depend as much on improving what we measure as on improving what we compute.

If the evidence is not in the measurement, intelligence cannot conjure it into existence.

RELATED

{ https://www.eurasiareview.com/ }

By Taylor Penley - Fox News

A UAP whistleblower is making an extraordinary claim about what the U.S. government is keeping behind closed doors, saying the government is in possession of recovered craft.

"Does the government have craft that have been recovered? Yes they do," Dylan Borland said on the "Hang Out with Sean Hannity" podcast.

Borland made the assertion in the latest episode of the show, where he joined television host Ben Hansen to discuss what whistleblowers say they know about the government's handling of UAP and allegedly recovered craft.

• UFO WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS BILLIONS IN SECRET SPENDING HIDDEN FROM CONGRESS

UAP whistleblower Dylan Borland, left, sits down for an exclusive interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, right, on the "Hang Out with Sean Hannity" podcast.

(Hang Out With Sean Hannity/Screengrab)

Hannity pressed Borland directly on whether he knew "for a fact" that the government possessed such craft, and whether restrictions surrounding his work would allow him to answer the question publicly.

He responded: "Yes."

His claim comes after a group of UAP whistleblowers called on President Donald Trump to waive nondisclosure agreements they say prevent them from fully disclosing what they know to the American public.

• MARCO RUBIO ADDRESSES UAP GOVERNMENT COVER-UP ALLEGATIONS, SAYS TRUMP WOULD GIVE A SPEECH IF ADMIN KNEW MORE

During the conversation, Hannity also pointed to individuals he had spoken with previously who said they had knowledge of recovered craft. He asked Borland whether he knew people who had made similar assertions.

"Probably, yes," Borland responded.

Hannity also discussed claims from individuals who say they faced intimidation, workplace harassment and threats after coming forward with UAP-related information. Borland appeared to affirm those accounts during the interview.

Hannity has held previous podcast discussions about UAPs, including one conversation with Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., and Luis Elizondo about alleged Pentagon UAP cover-ups, exotic materials, destroyed pilot data and more.

"Hang Out with Sean Hannity" fans can watch or listen to Hannity's full conversation with Borland and Hansen on iHeartRadio, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever they get their podcasts.

{ https://www.foxnews.com/ }

The Moon has an extremely weak magnetic field. However, the question of whether our satellite has always been this defenseless has long sparked heated debate among astrophysicists. Some scientists argued that billions of years ago the Moon had its own planetary dynamo, while others claimed that the evidence for this theory was insufficient.

The Moon is defenseless against space because of the absence of a magnetic field. Photo: Unsplash

Fresh observations of the far side of our cosmic neighbor, published in the journal Science Advances, have helped bring an unexpected resolution to this debate.

The Coincidence of Three Anomalies in Dewar Crater

While analyzing archival lunar observations, scientists discovered a huge, strongly magnetized structure in the region of Dewar crater. The object, about 60 km wide, consists of solidified magma that rose from deep within the Moon approximately 4.2 billion years ago.

Dewar crater, photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. Source: Wikimedia Commons

This area is also known for bright, swirling patterns on the surface. Researchers Xi Yang and Anna Mittelholz of ETH Zurich note that Dewar crater represents a unique case where a magnetic anomaly, a gravitational anomaly, and a characteristic surface pattern all coincide at the same location.

The far side of the Moon. Image:  Space Engine

Using a combined mathematical model, the scientists calculated that the Moon’s early magnetic field would have needed to be about 11 μT to produce such a structure. For comparison, Earth’s present-day magnetic field is about 50 μT.

A New Approach Instead of Apollo Samples

The previous hypothesis of a lunar dynamo was based on rock samples brought back by astronauts from the Apollo missions, but later re-evaluations of these materials confused the scientific community because of conflicting results. The new method, which combines orbital gravity and magnetic data, made it possible to place precise constraints on the characteristics of the planetary dynamo without the need for landing and collecting soil samples. In addition, the location of Dewar crater completely rules out the possibility that the magnetic anomaly was temporarily produced by a powerful asteroid impact.

A lunar swirl photographed on the near side of the Moon. Source: NASA

Understanding the Moon’s magnetic history provides an important example of how relatively small celestial bodies can maintain — or lose — their own dynamos. And although the discovery does not eliminate absolutely all discrepancies with the Apollo sample data, the scientific debate is now shifting from the question “Did a magnetic field exist?” to “How exactly did it work?”

Earlier, we reported on how the Moon’s magnetic field may once have been stronger than Earth’s.

• Based on materials from Phys
• Posted in News, Science

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

The European Space Agency is expanding the use of artificial intelligence in its work. The agency has agreed on a strategic partnership with the French company Mistral, one of Europe’s leading developers of language models. Neural networks will assist engineers, analyze satellite images, and accelerate mission preparation. At the same time, the computing infrastructure is expected to remain within Europe.

Artificial intelligence in the space industry. Artist’s illustration. Source: ESA

Signing in Paris

The letter of intent was signed in Paris on September 16 by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch. The agency announced the agreement on September 23 in an official ESA release.

Such a document is not yet a contract. It establishes a framework within which the parties will look for joint projects. The release does not specify amounts or timelines. However, the steady move toward broader use of artificial intelligence in the space industry is becoming increasingly clear. The company is expected to provide artificial intelligence models, cloud infrastructure, and technical expertise, while ESA will contribute its own engineering, scientific, and operational tasks.

Why Space Needs Neural Networks

According to Josef Aschbacher, artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming one of the core technologies of the space industry, and the agency is already testing it in operational and research projects. The document identifies several areas of application. These include processing Earth observation images, engineering analysis, mission design, and specialist training.

Routine operations will be handed over to algorithms, which will also make it easier to search for the necessary knowledge. The release emphasizes that final technical decisions will continue to be made by people.

The agency already has experience with onboard neural networks. In September 2020, the Φsat-1 satellite was launched into orbit, where software onboard directly filtered out images obscured by clouds. This type of selection reduces the amount of data that must be transmitted to Earth, since clouds cover about two-thirds of the planet’s surface at any given time.

Data Will Remain in Europe

The parties will separately examine how to deploy language models on European infrastructure. Among the requirements listed in the release are security, resilience, traceability, auditability, and protection of sensitive information. Arthur Mensch promised to transform the agency’s observation archives into services for the space industry while maintaining the highest standards of control and sovereignty.

The issue of sovereignty also has a legal dimension. The U.S. CLOUD Act of 2018 allows U.S. authorities to demand information from American providers even when their servers are located outside the country. For ESA mission documentation, such dependence creates a risk, so the agency needs a provider operating under European jurisdiction.

Mistral was founded in Paris in 2023. Within just a few years, it has become one of the most prominent competitors to American developers in this field.

Cooperation Is Already Underway

The new agreement builds on work that the agency and the company are already carrying out together. One of these projects, the Orbit assistant, helps employees with engineering tasks and works with the agency’s restricted data without transmitting it outside.

The second tool, the Earth Virtual Expert EVE, was created at the agency’s Φ-lab together with European partners. It specializes in Earth observation and Earth sciences. The parties still need to formalize new areas of work, their timelines, and budgets in separate agreements.

• Posted in Business, News, Tech

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

The Sopranos writer and Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter will be teaming up with filmmaker and producer Dan Farah for the development of a new television series based on the former U.S. intelligence official who led the U.S. government’s investigations into Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).

The series will be based on the forthcoming memoir Out of the Shadows, which offers a candid look at the career of Jay Stratton, the former official who led the U.S. government’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF).

Stratton’s book, scheduled for publication in October by William Morrow, recounts his involvement with official investigations of UAP, the military’s term for what historically are known as unidentified flying objects or UFOs, and the bureaucratic hurdles he encountered while leading government efforts to resolve their nature and origin.

Winter will serve as an executive producer for the screen adaptation through Cold Front Productions, and Farah will also be an executive producer under Farah Films, according to Variety.  

Farah previously directed the documentary film The Age of Disclosure, which brought together more than thirty current and former U.S. officials who spoke on the record about the UAP issue, potential national security related to the phenomenon, and ongoing efforts to secure the release of information about it, which are believed to remain in the U.S. government’s possession. Farah also produced the documentary film The Phenomenon by director James Fox.

Along with the secretive world of U.S. government investigations into UAP, the forthcoming series will deal with the unusual intersection between Stratton’s classified work and his life at home, as detailed in his forthcoming memoir, where he describes how his family also reportedly experienced unusual events while he served in government.

Winter described Stratton’s story and the plans for a forthcoming series as a journey into the lesser-known world of U.S. government and UAP investigations. Farah compared the material to a high-stakes political thriller, with a central mystery that is accompanied by the personal toll placed on Stratton and his family, and lingering questions about the existence of non-human intelligence.

Winter brings considerable experience to the project, with past work that includes serving as writer and executive producer on The Sopranos before going on to create HBO’s hit series Boardwalk Empire. Winter is also the recipient of an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Wolf of Wall Street.

Presently, details about the cast, release date, and potential networks and streaming platforms that may carry the program have not yet been announced. Stratton’s book, Out of the Shadows, will be released on October 13, 2026.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/defense/ }

A Mysterious Military Drone Was Recovered By A Fishing Charter Off Florida's Gulf Coast

By Aaron Greenbaum

PUBLIC DOMAIN

When you charter a fishing boat, you do so with the expectation of catching some fish. Although, sometimes the unexpected occurs. Anglers have been known to snag some weird-looking fish, but who could ever expect a fishing expedition would result in dragging a military drone back to shore?

On September 20, 2026, a group of people had hired Hot Spot Charters to go on a six-hour fishing trip off the coast of Pensacola Beach, Florida when they spotted what the ship's captain initially thought was "an upside-down skiff," according to WEAR Channel 3 News. When they got closer and brought the semi-submerged UFO onboard (no easy feat since it weighed 500 pounds and was completely waterlogged), they realized it was actually an unmanned drone. A nearby military base, Eglin Air Force Base, informed the news channel that the vessel was a Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS). Thankfully, some of the people onboard had enough military experience to assume the drone was safe to retrieve.

According to Eglin Air Force Base, the LUCAS drone had been missing since last Thursday. The UAV was undergoing some "routine scheduled testing" when it hit the water. After the fishing group brought the drone back to Pensacola Beach, Eglin Air Force Base officials retrieved it from the local Sheriff's Department. Thankfully, the LUCAS wasn't the only highlight of the trip; A school of Mahi-Mahi had congregated around the drone, and the charter group managed to catch six of the fish thanks to the military-grade bait.

What's the big deal with LUCAS?

PUBLIC DOMAIN

So, what exactly is a LUCAS and why was Eglin Air Force Base testing it? The LUCAS is what's known as a one-way attack drone, similar to the Iranian Shahed 136 both in terms of appearance and battle tactic: to swarm enemies and ram into them as fast as possible, detonating an integrated warhead for maximum damage. As such, the LUCAS is designed to be expendable and mass produced, sort of like those 3-D printed drones the Navy is testing. According to U.S. Central Command, the LUCAS entered the United States' weapon catalog in February of this year. While the drones first official use came during the 2026 Iran War, researchers at OSINT believe they were actually used earlier during the January 2026 Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela.

As for Eglin Air Force Base's role, the location is responsible for the majority of Air Force armament testing. When a new control system or attack drone is being developed, tested, and readied for deployment, it's sent to Eglin. While the base maintains an exclusion zone so it can safely evaluate weapons without risking any civilian casualties, the LUCAS had drifted outside of this area by the time the chartered fishing boat found it. However, the air base did not comment on why the drone hit the water, so maybe the LUCAS needs a bit more testing before it's ready for the military's Amazon-style marketplace.

{ https://www.bgr.com/category/tech/ }

Hebben mensen op sociale media beelden van buitenaards leven op Mars ontdekt?

© NASA/JPL-Caltech

 Martijn Peters

In 2015 zag iedereen plots een zwevende lepel op Mars dankzij de Curiosity-rover.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

In 2022 ging deze foto van Curiosity viraal waarop er een deur te zien leek op Mars.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/NeV-T

Een van de bekendere foto's van de afgelopen jaren werd in 2023 genomen door NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter en lijkt een beer te tonen.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

In april 2026 ontdekte Curiosity op de locatie van de Antofagasta-krater een stuk grond met een vreemde, schubachtige textuur.

© NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS, Kevin M. Gill

Dit jaar (2026) zagen mensen plots een piramide op Mars met dank aan de NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor die deze foto al in 2001 nam.

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Het gaat om een foto die is gemaakt door Curiosity, een van de rovers op Mars. Die legde in 2023 een op het eerste gezicht perfect normaal ogend landschap van de rode planeet vast. Maar het internet zou het internet niet zijn als mensen die foto’s niet onder een vergrootglas zouden bekijken. En wat blijkt? In de linkerhoek duikt plots een vreemde vlek op.

Deze foto maakte Curiosity op Mars op 20 augustus 2023.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Wanneer we inzoomen linksonder in de foto van Curiosity zien we de 'buitenaardse' kwal verschijnen.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Twee frames genomen met enkele seconden ertussen.

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

{ https://www.hln.be/weer-en-wetenschap/ }

An ordinary traffic report turned into a shocking UFO sighting after a news helicopter caught a mysterious orb floating over a packed California highway. 

The wild scene was captured over the Los Angeles freeway in mid-September as dozens of cars and trucks sat in evening rush hour traffic.

A helicopter for FOX 11 Los Angeles was zooming in on the multi-level highway when the camera operator appeared to notice a strange, metallic sphere floating above the road.

The object, about the size of a basketball or slightly larger, was seen traveling in a straight line away from the busy highway, towards a more wooded neighborhood.

Instead of zooming in on the congestion in Los Angeles, the camera operator was caught off guard and started following the UFO for several seconds before veering back to the traffic.

The news outlet did not address the video of the mysterious sphere, which has been shared online and seen by millions since it was posted on September 22.

One person said onX: 'They noticed the object enough to focus on it before turning their camera away.' Another viewer added: 'I'm skeptical, but it doesn't move like a balloon in the wind. It's flying in a straight line.'

Despite many people seeing the sphere and believing the helicopter caught an actual UFO in flight, the US government has continued to claim no physical evidence proving UFOs or extraterrestrials exist has ever been recovered.

Video of an alleged UFO sighting over the Los Angeles freeway was shared on social media in September 2026

A local traffic camera on a news helicopter spotted a small sphere moving away from the highway

Many viewers drew comparisons between the metallic object seen floating over Los Angeles and the so-called Buga Sphere captured in Colombia last year, which locals reported was a metal ball that appeared to strike a power line and crash.

Both objects seemed to glide through the air. Neither had visible strings or appeared to have been influenced by the wind as a balloon might.

Skeptics still claim the tiny UFO seen over Los Angeles was most likely some type of drone flying near the busy road or the so-called 'marker balls' - the orange or white spheres hanging from power lines which make these cables easier to see for planes.

'Yay, more balloons and parallax!' one doubter declared, noting the phenomenon where a nearby object seems to slide across the background when the camera moves, even if that object is sitting still.

Others claimed the object was just a mylar balloon floating over the city and giving the supposed UFO its chrome-like appearance.

However, believers argued the balloon theory was just a bunch of hot air, noting that an air-filled party favor should not have been able to keep such a steady course away from the freeway.

'Balloon crowd is going to have a hard time with this one. That path is too straight. Wind doesn’t fly a sphere across LA in a clean line with no wobble. Whatever it is, it isn’t just floating,' one person wrote on X.

Just as the camera pulled away from the sphere, the UFO appeared to vanish as it flew in front of a nearby warehouse. 

The Buga Sphere (Pictured) was recovered by local residents in Colombia in March 2025 and has been in the care of scientists in Mexico ever since

The metallic-looking orb was seen disappearing near a wooded neighborhood and warehouse seconds after leaving the freeway

California has been a notorious hotspot for unexplained UFO sightings along the US West Coast.

According to the crowdsourced platform Enigma, which allows the public to report sightings of UFOs, there have been nearly 30,000 sightings of unidentified objects in the sky over the state dating back to 1901.

Those reports include more than 2,500 that specifically mention a sphere flying overhead.

READ MORE

EXCLUSIVE

• I found strange DNA in the human genome: Inside a scientist's hunt for alien hybrids as CIA is accused of secretly tracking them

UFO sightings in California nearly doubled the next closest state - Florida.

'I’ve seen these several times in my life. Last time I saw two together in Los Angeles in 2020 beginning of pandemic,' one viewer claimed online.

'Enigma has received 5,248 first-hand reports of UFO sightings in California. A total of 29,884 UFO sightings from California have been published to Enigma, inclusive of third-party sources,' the public UFO database explained.

Metallic spheres and glowing orbs have become common UFO encounters over the last year as the US government declassified troves of data pertaining to alleged extraterrestrial sightings and unidentified craft.

Since May, six reports have been released by the Pentagon, including images and videos of silver spheres being followed by US drones and satellites flying at high speed over oceans, deserts and even military bases.

The news outlet did not publish a date or time stamp confirming the exact minute the helicopter was over that stretch of the LA freeway.

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{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html }

How Diffractive Solar Sails Could Stop a Killer Asteroid at 100 km/s

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

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{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Two UFOs Show Up In Apollo 10 Mission Photo Near Orbiter, UFO UAP Sighting News.

Date of sighting: May 18-26, 1969

Date of discovery: Sept 23, 2026

Location of sighting: Moon orbit

Source: Apollo 10 AS10-27-3864 & AS10-27-3865

URL:

• https://tothemoon.im-ldi.com/gallery/Apollo/10/6#AS10-27-3865

UFOs watching the NASA in space is nothing new. Its been happening since the beginning of the space program, however these UFOs are unique shapes. One is a triangle shape thick craft while the otehr is a sphere with a flat disk below it. These may be alien drones sent to record without any pilots onboard. The craft look small, similar in size to the Apollo module seen in the photo, but the UFOs are further away making them look smaller. Aliens, they love knowledge, and watching, recording and then sharing with their own species...thats their gold, their money, their view of whats really valuable...knowledge.

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily

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{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Pyramid-shaped UFO spotted over Brazil

Years ago, a number of strange UFO sightings were captured on camera but never received much attention from the mainstream media. Apart from a handful of dedicated UFO websites and online communities, many of these cases remained largely unnoticed. 

Today, it may be worth taking another look at some of that older footage, recordings made long before AI-generated imagery became widespread. 

Strange lights. Unidentified objects. Mysterious shapes appearing in the sky. 

In this video, we take a closer look at several intriguing cases: 

• The Metapod UFO hovering over Spain 
• A cylindrical UFO spotted over the sea 
• A glowing orb appearing above a playground in Finland 
• A pyramid-shaped object observed in the night sky over Brazil 
• Fiery objects descending over Tijuana 

Some of these recordings may have ordinary explanations. Others remain difficult to identify. 

But all of them were captured before the age of AI, and that makes them worth examining again.

 

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{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

Scientists create an atomic clock so precise it could REDEFINE the second

By XANTHA LEATHAM, EXECUTIVE SCIENCE EDITOR

Scientists have built the world's most accurate atomic clock – and it's so precise it could redefine the second.

Experts at Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) have developed a device that can meticulously track the passage of time, down to trillionths of a second.

The researchers believe their clock, built from the element lutetium, outperforms previous record holders built from different elements.

They say their device can measure time to 19 decimal places – the lowest reported for any optical atomic clock to date.

The timepiece is so reliable that it would take more than 260 billion years to lose a second.

'I am confident that what we have now is the most accurate clock in the world,' team leader Murray Barrett, from the National University of Singapore, said.

Scientists say they have built the world's most accurate atomic clock. Pictured: A close–up of the clock's interior

Atomic clocks keep time by monitoring an atomic transition, which is when one of an atom's electrons changes energy levels.

The frequency of this transition is a fixed property of the atom. A laser is matched to this transition and the light oscillations act like a pendulum to count time.

The basic method has been in place for decades. Cesium atoms have set the global standard for time since the 1960s, and cesium atomic clocks already support the Global Positioning System (GPS) and synchronize communication and transport networks.

Pictured in the Centre for Quantum Technologies' lutetium atomic clock lab are (from left) Associate Professor Murray Barrett, Ph.D. student Michael Lee and Senior Research Scientist Kyle Arnold.

Credit: Centre for Quantum Technologies

But scientists have been pushing the limits of timekeeping with other elements.

Elements such as ytterbium, strontium and aluminium oscillate much faster than cesium, helping them keep time more accurately and setting records.

However, the CQT team started working with lutetium over a decade ago on the hunch that it had the right properties to join the set of top–performing clocks.

To its knowledge, it is the only group working with this element for timekeeping so far.

Atomic clocks keep time by monitoring an atomic transition, when one of an atom's electrons changes energy levels. Pictured: One of the researchers taking a close look at the device

After measuring the frequency of the lutetium clock, the scientists reported an uncertainty of 1 x 10–19, as published in the journal Nature.

Lutetium's strong performance comes from properties of the atom. Its clock transition is hardly affected by changes in temperature or magnetic field – two variables that can throw off the frequency of other elements.

'In the future, I just don't see how this clock can be beat,' Dr Barrett said.

'The good properties mean that high accuracy can be achieved even in a wide range of environments.

'The lutetium clock would be stable even if you went from the hottest place recorded on Earth in Death Valley to the coldest place in the Antarctic plateau.'

His team has spent over a decade doing precision engineering on its atomic clock setup and testing different properties of the atom.

The researchers not only calculated their estimate of the clock's accuracy but verified it by comparing two lutetium clocks with each other.

The two clocks' ticks matched to the 19th digit, which the team says is the most precise clock comparison ever performed.

How the new clock works: Scientists use a single trapped lutetium ion and lasers to keep time with unprecedented precision

Ideally, the team would also compare its lutetium clock to the world's other best atomic clocks.

However, clocks that are this precise can detect the slowing of time caused by gravity over height differences of millimetres.

Differences in gravity between places on Earth are not yet known well enough to compare clocks at this level.

To enable new comparisons and explore future applications, the clock needs to come out of the lab.

'The next step is to take the lab–scale clock and miniaturize it into a transportable system,' said Michael Lee, joint first author on the paper and a Ph.D. student on the NUS team.

The researchers expect they can make their clock smaller without compromising its accuracy.

As well as keeping exceptionally accurate time, these types of clocks could help probe unanswered questions in physics, detect tiny changes in gravity and reshape how the second is defined. 

The international body responsible for time standards is considering data from new optical atomic clocks toward a redefinition of the second expected in or after 2030.  

While a strontium clock reported in March could measure time to 19 decimal places, the new lutetium clock pushes precision even further by independently verifying its accuracy at the 19th decimal place. 

The researchers say this is the first optical clock to achieve this level of verified accuracy. 

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{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html }

The Object That Could Solve the Amelia Earhart Mystery Is About to Be Uncovered

Their target is known as the Taraia Object, an unusual shape seen in satellite images beside the Taraia Peninsula on Nikumaroro, a tiny coral island in the Republic of Kiribati. Researchers behind the expedition believe there is a possibility the object could be wreckage from Earhart’s missing Lockheed Electra 10E, but nobody has physically examined it closely enough to know what it actually is.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=167576822

That could change within weeks. Purdue University, Purdue Research Foundation and the Archaeological Legacy Institute are supporting an expedition scheduled to leave Tarawa, Kiribati, on 7 October. After a voyage of roughly six days across the Pacific, the team plans to enter Nikumaroro’s lagoon and investigate the object directly.

Rather than relying on another satellite photograph, researchers intend to remove the sediment covering the anomaly using a hydraulic dredge. Once enough of it has been exposed, they hope to determine whether they are looking at natural material, vegetation, debris or pieces of an aircraft that disappeared in 1937.

Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished on 2 July 1937 while flying from Lae, New Guinea, towards Howland Island during Earhart’s attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Their specially modified twin-engine Lockheed Electra had already completed approximately 22,000 miles of the journey when they set out across one of its most difficult stretches.

Radio contact with the US Coast Guard cutter Itasca deteriorated as Earhart approached the area around Howland. At 7:42am local time, she reported that fuel was running low and that she could not see the ship. Her final confirmed transmission was received at approximately 8:43am, when she reported flying along a navigational line running 157 to 337 degrees.

Earhart, Noonan and the aircraft were never seen again. A huge US Navy and Coast Guard search followed, but no confirmed wreckage was recovered and the mystery has remained unresolved ever since.

One theory suggests Earhart never reached Howland and crashed into the Pacific after exhausting her fuel. Another proposes that she and Noonan continued southeast along the navigational line mentioned in her final transmission and reached what was then Gardner Island, now known as Nikumaroro.

That second possibility has been investigated for decades by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, better known as TIGHAR. Researchers have conducted repeated expeditions to the island and examined radio records, photographs, archaeological material and possible evidence that Earhart and Noonan survived there for at least some period after their disappearance.

Nikumaroro sits around 350 nautical miles southeast of Howland Island and has a broad reef flat where an aircraft could potentially have landed during favourable tide conditions. US Navy aircraft searching the Phoenix Islands flew over Gardner Island only days after Earhart disappeared and reported signs of recent habitation, although nobody on the search aircraft reported seeing Earhart, Noonan or the Electra.

Various objects discovered during later archaeological work have added to the mystery, including fragments and personal items dating broadly to the period. Human bones were also recovered on Nikumaroro in 1940, although the original remains were subsequently lost and attempts to associate historical measurements of them with Earhart have remained disputed.

None of those discoveries has provided the piece of evidence researchers have sought for almost nine decades: an identifiable part of Earhart’s aircraft.

Attention shifted towards the lagoon after California resident Michael Ashmore noticed an unusual shape in satellite imagery in 2020. The feature was lying in shallow water alongside the Taraia Peninsula, east of the Tatiman Passage that connects Nikumaroro’s lagoon with the Pacific.

Researchers subsequently began collecting older satellite images, aerial photographs, drone footage and video of the same location. According to the Archaeological Legacy Institute, the anomaly can be followed across multiple satellite images obtained between 2009 and 2026, although its visibility changes considerably from one image to another.

One of the most intriguing details emerged when researchers examined imagery from immediately after Tropical Cyclone Pam passed through the wider region in March 2015. The object became particularly visible in satellite photographs taken shortly afterwards, leading the team to suggest that storm-driven water may have stripped sediment from something that had previously been buried on the lagoon floor.

Images from 2015 and 2016 show the feature more clearly, while later photographs suggest it became increasingly covered again. Researchers say a new commercial satellite image obtained in April 2026 still shows a darker area at the same position, although its outline is now less distinct.

Older material has also been examined. The expedition team says aerial photographs taken by the New Zealand military in 1938 appear to show something at roughly the same location. Drone footage recorded during a 2017 visit also captured the anomaly from several directions without researchers realising its potential significance at the time.

A separate piece of video recorded during a TIGHAR helicopter flight in 2001 shows a bright reflection from beneath the water in the same general area. Supporters of the new expedition believe that reflection could have come from exposed metal, although it cannot identify what produced it.

Researchers behind the project argue that the visible dimensions of the Taraia Object are compatible with part of a Lockheed Electra fuselage and tail section. They have also proposed a possible route by which wreckage could have moved from the reef into the lagoon through Tatiman Passage after an aircraft landed on Nikumaroro.

It remains a hypothesis, and there is a significant counterargument.

TIGHAR itself examined the Taraia Object after Ashmore brought the satellite image to its attention in 2020 and reached a very different conclusion. Its researchers suggested the feature looked more like a fallen coconut palm or log deposited in the lagoon after severe storm damage. TIGHAR also noted that members had searched the Taraia shoreline using metal detectors during an expedition in 2001.

That disagreement is exactly why the October expedition could be important. Researchers will no longer be arguing solely over what a shape resembles in a satellite photograph. They intend to go to the location and uncover it.

Current plans call for the expedition team to travel from Tarawa aboard the LC Marin Mainiku. Once at Nikumaroro, smaller boats will have to be moved across the reef and through Tatiman Passage before researchers can begin work inside the lagoon. Access trails across the heavily vegetated island will also have to be reopened.

Remote sensing, sonar and other survey equipment can be used to refine the target before investigators begin gently removing sediment. A hydraulic dredge will then expose enough of the object for the team to examine its material and construction directly.

Aircraft aluminium alone would not automatically identify Earhart’s Electra. Investigators would need to look for characteristics consistent with a Lockheed Model 10E, including the shape of any surviving components, construction techniques and rivet patterns. Any identifiable serial numbers or manufacturer markings would be considerably stronger evidence if preserved.

Finding wood, coral, rock or the remains of a tree would bring this particular theory to a rapid end. Finding aircraft wreckage would begin a much larger investigation rather than finish one, because researchers would then need to establish its type, age and identity.

If the object can be identified as part of Earhart’s Electra, organisers plan to return in 2027 for a full archaeological excavation. That phase would expose and document the wreckage properly before any decision was made about whether recovery was possible. Purdue has a particularly strong connection to the aircraft because Purdue Research Foundation helped finance Earhart’s Electra, which she referred to as her flying laboratory.

Previous searches around Nikumaroro have shown how difficult the mystery is to resolve. In 2019, Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard led an extensive National Geographic-backed underwater search around the island. His team visually examined the steep underwater slopes surrounding Nikumaroro down to around 750 metres without finding the aircraft.

That search concentrated heavily on the possibility that wreckage had been swept from the reef into deep water. The Taraia theory proposes almost the opposite direction, suggesting material could instead have travelled through the reef passage and become trapped within the shallow lagoon.

For almost nine decades, Amelia Earhart’s disappearance has produced theories ranging from plausible navigation scenarios to elaborate conspiracies. Thousands of kilometres of ocean have been searched, dozens of supposed clues have been investigated and several apparent discoveries have eventually led nowhere.

October’s expedition has a much narrower objective. A specific object exists at a specific location beneath the lagoon, and researchers intend to uncover it and determine what it is.

If it is a tree, another Amelia Earhart theory can be crossed off the list. If aluminium, aircraft structure and matching construction details begin emerging from beneath the sediment, one of aviation’s longest-running mysteries could enter a completely different phase.

For the first time since the Taraia Object was recognised in satellite imagery, researchers are preparing to stop looking at it from above and physically expose what has been hidden beneath the lagoon.

{ https://www.abovethenormnews.com/ }

Behold: Video of “First-Ever” Human Versus Robot MMA Fight

The Milky Way Galaxy. Source: www.futura-sciences.com

The terrifying world beyond the Solar System

People are apprehensive about phenomena that are vast and mysterious, and in this regard, nothing compares with the expanse of space. Regardless of how extensively scientists explain the events occurring around us, people will continue to fear the unknown.

Although concerns regarding the Solar System are relatively minor — after all, anyone can observe the movement of the planets, and scientists speak with considerable confidence about the possibility of predicting the motion of celestial bodies — beyond its boundaries lies something mysterious known as the Galaxy. In the imagination of many people, it resembles the edges of old geographical maps, where, alongside the outlines of distant shores, one might find inscriptions reading “dragons live here.”

Our scientific understanding of the Galaxy remains in its infancy. Although the band of the Milky Way had been visible in the night sky since before the advent of writing, and Aristarchus of Samos proposed as early as the third century B.C. that the stars were distant suns, the question of the structure of what lay beyond the orbit of Saturn — the outermost planet, as it was then believed — was regarded as absurd for two thousand years. Only the sphere of the fixed stars was thought to exist.

The Milky Way in the sky. Source: Wikipedia

It was only after Galileo Galilei used a telescope to distinguish individual stars in the Milky Way that the idea that the Galaxy (a word that for a long time was a complete synonym for the Milky Way) — is, in fact, something of which the Solar System is a small part — began to take root in the minds of both astronomers and the general public.

The size of the Galaxy

The primary reason it took so long to recognize clearly that a vast universe exists beyond the Solar System was that, for an extended period, astronomers lacked a frame of reference for determining the distance between Earth and the stars.

As early as the third century B.C., Aristarchus of Samos recognized that if Earth follows a cyclical orbit around the Sun, this motion must be accompanied by apparent shifts in the positions of the stars, as occurs with any distant objects. This phenomenon is known as annual parallax. Based on its magnitude, it could be used not only to demonstrate the validity of the heliocentric model of our solar system but also to determine the distances to the stars.

Annual parallax. Source: itu.physics.uiowa.edu

However, no parallax was detected. Astronomers understood that this was attributable to the immense distances of the stars relative to the radius of Earth’s orbit. Nevertheless, this finding cast serious doubt on all of their calculations, including the estimate of the Galaxy’s size made by William and Caroline Herschel in 1785.

Incidentally, prominent astronomers of the time underestimated its size by a factor of 13 to 15. Although they correctly determined that its shape resembled a lens or disk, they estimated its dimensions at only 6,000 to 7,000 light-years, whereas it is, in fact, closer to 100,000 light-years across. This discrepancy resulted from their limited understanding of the matter present in interstellar space, which strongly absorbs light from the most distant stars.

However, during the 1830s, the application of photography ultimately enabled the measurement of annual parallax. Humanity thereby recognized that, although light requires only eight minutes to travel from the Sun to Earth, it would take years or even decades to reach the nearest stars.

William Herschel’s map of the galaxy. Source: Wikipedia

People often perceive this as yet another alarming fact; however, it also means that nothing lies between them and us — certainly nothing dangerous. Even if something terrifying is moving from them toward us, it cannot reach us faster than the speed of light. Consequently, in one way or another, we have years, if not decades, to prepare for our encounter with it.

People may also be intimidated by the sheer number of stars visible to us; however, this abundance means that the stars have virtually nowhere to conceal themselves from observation. Despite the presence of interstellar gas and dust, space remains transparent, as there is no horizon. Consequently, we can observe every star, at least in the vicinity of the Sun, and determine the direction in which each is moving.

One might raise the following objection: if annual parallax exists, how can we be certain that the observed movements of the stars are not entirely attributable to it? The amount of displacement produced by the Earth’s motion around the Sun, however, is known. Accordingly, any movement exceeding that amount must result from the stars’ own motion.

The Milky Way Galaxy

That is precisely why scientists possess knowledge not only of the positions of an extraordinary number of stars, but also of their physical characteristics and velocity vectors. Collectively, these stars constitute the Galaxy, resembling a vortex of matter revolving around its center.

Visualization of data from the Tycho-2 Catalogue. Source: Wikipedia

The number of stars in the Milky Way known to humanity is staggering. Even catalogues published in the late nineteenth century listed several tens of thousands of stars. The Tycho-2 Catalogue, published in the early twenty-first century, already contained 2.5 million stars. However, the third data release from the Gaia space telescope contains information on 1.8 billion stars. Although this represents less than 1% of all the stars in the Milky Way, it enables us to understand how at least the region of the galaxy containing the Solar System rotates.

The Galaxy consists not only of stars but also of nebulae. Further information about these vast clouds of interstellar gas is available in this article; in brief, several hundred such nebulae have already been identified. All of these celestial bodies orbit a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

It is an extraordinary object with a mass equivalent to 4.3 million solar masses. However, it is located 27,000 light-years away from Earth — so distant that even the photons originating there began their journey when humanity was struggling to survive during the Ice Age.

The Gaia Space Telescope. Source: Wikipedia

Hidden monsters

Our understanding of the Milky Way is far removed from the notion that “we know nothing about it.” In fact, scientists possess such an extensive body of information that it surpasses the wildest imaginings of the cartographers who once created maps of unexplored lands inhabited by extraordinary monsters. No individual can fully comprehend the entirety of this data.

But this raises a question: since this represents less than 1% of the Galaxy, have scientists overlooked something important right here in our neighborhood? Perhaps these monsters are lurking right outside the Solar System’s doorstep? And the answer to that question is no. The fact is that most of the stars in the Gaia Catalogue are, in fact, the ones closest to us.

The Gaia Catalogue contains 331,312 stars located no farther from the Sun than 100 parsecs, or 330 light-years. Consequently, nearly all of these stars are observable, making it extremely difficult for any nearby object to remain undetected. Moreover, these objects move through space at speeds significantly lower than the speed of light.

Stars around the Sun

This indicates that we are not at risk of an event such as a collision between the Sun and another star or a close stellar passage. Scientists can determine this with precision because the motion vectors of nearby stars are known, and none of them would produce such consequences — particularly on timescales extending beyond humanity’s recorded history.

However, certain objects in space are considerably more formidable than ordinary stars, including pulsars and stellar-mass black holes. The nearest neutron stars — which emit intense and highly frequent bursts of radiation — are located approximately 200–700 light-years from Earth. Consequently, they pose no immediate threat to us. Moreover, they travel through space at speeds comparable to those of ordinary stars, and none is expected to approach Earth within the next several million years.

Even more distant is the nearest known black hole, which is located within a binary system. This is well established because, through accretion, such objects emit substantial amounts of radiation; consequently, we would certainly have detected anything similar if it were located closer.

Pulsar. Source: www.space.com

It is worth noting, however, that individual neutron stars — and particularly black holes — are virtually undetectable because they emit little or no radiation. Nevertheless, scientists are confident that no such objects exist within a radius of 20–30 light-years of Earth.

Because they interact with both interstellar matter and the radiation emitted by objects situated behind them, scientists should, in principle, be able to observe gravitational lensing and at least some thermal radiation, in addition to radio signals. All of these phenomena should also exhibit a significant annual parallax, indicating that the source is located very nearby.

This is particularly evident because astronomers have already discovered objects near the Sun that were previously undetectable. These objects are brown dwarfs — slightly larger than Jupiter but possessing masses several dozen times greater.

Black hole. Source: www.wired.com

By galactic standards, they emit extremely little radiation, yet scientists were eventually able to detect them thanks to the WISE infrared sky survey. Interestingly, they were discovered at distances of both 10 and 20 light-years from Earth, but Proxima Centauri has not been dethroned as the star closest to us. This means there simply aren’t any closer ones.

That is precisely why scientists can state with confidence that, at least, the portion of the Galaxy nearest to us will remain safe for the next several thousand years. Accordingly, space is not as intimidating as it may initially appear.

• Posted in Articles, Questions

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

Warp Drives, Wormholes and UFOs: What’s Inside the Pentagon’s Latest UAP Files

It isn’t exactly the “X-Files,” but on Friday the Pentagon released a sixth batch of documents on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), more commonly known as UFOs. The latest data dump included dozens of documents detailing a military program that commissioned studies of science-fiction technologies, including warp drives and wormholes. The recent files also include details on injuries that researchers had linked to possible encounters with unknown craft.

“Today, the Department of War is publishing the sixth release of declassified and historical Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) files as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The collection continues to be housed on WAR.GOV/UFO, and the Department will release additional files on a rolling basis,” said Secretary of War for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell.

The files, which included 67 items from the Pentagon and four from local law enforcement in Colorado, consisted of 55 PDF documents, 15 video clips and an audio file. Sixty-four of the files, which were written between 1952 and 2025, contain redactions.

Sixth Tranche of Records

The documents were released more than six months after President Donald Trump ordered their release. The first tranche of records was released on May 8, 2026, and the sixth and newest batch was released last Friday, September 18, 2026. It is unclear how many unreleased documents remain.

The new records are part of the ongoing disclosure effort under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) and are hosted on the government’s UAP portal.

“This is an unprecedented, historic undertaking that requires coordination between dozens of agencies and the review of tens of millions of records, many existing only on paper, spanning many decades. Given the scope of this task, the Department of War will be releasing new materials on a rolling basis as they are discovered and declassified, with tranches posted every few weeks,” the Pentagon had explained.

The oldest of the files was a Project Blue Book investigation and assessment of an incident near Tremonton, Utah, on July 2, 1952.

“The file describes the Air Force’s assessment of the principal witness, Delbert C. Newhouse, a U.S. Navy Warrant Officer specializing in photography, as honest and reliable, and as an expert with more than 1,000 hours of aerial-photography experience. Newhouse reported observing 12 to 14 reflective objects and recorded the event on color motion-picture film using a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera,” the document explained.

A video clip of the incident is also among the newly released files.

Among the newest files is a 2025 report from United States Central Command (CENTCOM) that detailed the sighting of “six small spherical objects, grouped,” which were seen “frequently changing direction” at 480 mph. Another video from 2023 appears to show circular objects flying over the Yellow Sea, spotted by an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military vessel.

Secret Weapons Programs

The documents don’t provide any definitive evidence that extraterrestrial life or alien spacecraft exist, but do contain reports, videos, and sensor data of objects moving in unusual ways or at high speeds that analysts could not immediately identify. The documents do attribute some sightings to mundane explanations, such as weather balloons, drones, debris, camera optical artifacts, or sensor limitations.

One document in particular addresses the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, which the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) established in 2008 to study aerospace threats.

“One aspect of the future threat environment involves advanced aerospace weapon system applications. The objective of this program is to understand the physics and engineering of these applications as they apply to the foreign threat out to the far term, i.e., from now through the year 2050. Primary focus is on breakthrough technologies and applications that create discontinuities in currently evolving technology trends,” the document explained.

The document also included 37 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) that discussed a range of advanced technologies, including warp drives, traversable wormholes, antigravity, negative-mass propulsion, invisibility cloaking, and spintronics.

However, as CBS News reported, all 37 documents had been publicly available for years through the DIA’s Freedom of Information Act releases.

“Friday’s versions include some details the agency had previously withheld, like the names of the agency offices that produced the documents,” CBS News reported.

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Disclosure Day: Why We Never Get Tired of First Contact

Steven Spielberg has spent more than half a century asking us to look to the skies. With Disclosure Day, he’s done it again. So why, after decades of UFOs, alien visitors and ominous objects hovering over major cities, are we still obsessed with first contact?

By Rachael Harper

Image Credit: © 2026 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

There are some things science fiction simply refuses to give up. Time travel. Artificial intelligence becoming worryingly self-aware. Well-dressed government guys being suspiciously secretive. And aliens. Especially aliens arriving on Earth.

By this point, you’d think we might have seen every possible variation. Extraterrestrials have come in peace, come to invade, come to make friends, come to fall in love with us, come to destroy civilisation and, occasionally, come to hide in somebody’s shed.

Yet put one unexplained light in the sky and we’re interested all over again. Steven Spielberg certainly is.

With Disclosure Day, the filmmaker returns to extraterrestrial territory with a story involving UFOs, government secrecy and the rather significant possibility that humanity is not alone. Of course, this is familiar ground for Spielberg, but then he has been thinking about what might be up there since he was a child.

“I remember one summer, my dad took me out to look at the annual Perseid meteor shower when we were living in New Jersey,” Spielberg says. “Overnight, I developed a real curiosity about what is happening up there in the stars, on some planet orbiting in any number of countless solar systems, and if one of them might have a civilisation that was advanced enough to travel the universe.”

That curiosity clearly stuck. At 17, he directed Firelight, a feature-length Super 8 film about scientists investigating UFO sightings. “My first UFO movie,” Spielberg nods.

Not, as it turned out, his last.

Spielberg keeps looking up

Spielberg has returned to alien life repeatedly throughout his career, but crucially, he hasn’t always found the same thing waiting for him.

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind treated contact with something beyond our world with awe. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial brought the alien into the family home. War Of The Worlds took one look at all that optimism and decided perhaps we shouldn’t rush to put out the welcome mat.

What links them isn’t really aliens. It’s curiosity.

First-contact stories allow filmmakers to ask one of the biggest questions imaginable: what if we’re not alone? And then use the answer to talk about absolutely anything they like. Fear. Faith. Politics. Communication. Vegas. Paranoia. Family. Humanity’s place in the universe. And, in the case of Disclosure Day, truth.

Spielberg himself draws an important distinction between this film and Close Encounters. “During Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I would say to myself: ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of this turned out to be true?’” Spielberg says. “Almost 50 years later, I’m now thinking: ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful for us to actually know that all of this is true?’”

That small shift, from wondering to knowing, is basically the entire reason the first-contact movie still has life in it. There is always another question. And we always want to find out the answers.

Spielberg certainly isn’t alone in his fascination. Our appetite for first contact has long since escaped the cinema screen and developed a slightly unruly life of its own. Entire documentaries, podcasts and television series are devoted to UFO sightings, alleged encounters and the eternal question of what governments might know but aren’t telling us.

Indeed, Area 51 has become such a powerful piece of pop-culture mythology that, in 2019, a joke Facebook event encouraging people to “Storm Area 51” spiralled into a genuine global phenomenon, with millions expressing interest in going to Nevada to, as the meme put it, “see them aliens”. Whether you believe any of it or think the little green men are having a good laugh at our expense, the fascination is revealing. We don’t merely enjoy stories about discovering extraterrestrial life. A surprisingly large number of us really, really want those stories to be true.

First contact… except somebody got there before us

On the surface, Disclosure Day arrives with plenty of the furniture you’d expect from the ‘first contact’ genre. There are mysterious events. Secretive military organisations. Hidden knowledge. Advanced technology. People who know far more than they’re willing to say. So far, so gloriously UFO movie.

But Disclosure Day flips one of first contact’s most familiar ideas. Normally, the alien arrival is the event. You know what we mean; the ship appears, the signal comes through, somebody drops a coffee mug in a control room in slow motion. Humanity suddenly discovers something is out there.

Here, however, the more troubling possibility is that contact is old news. Someone already knows. And they haven’t told us. How rude.

That turns the classic first-contact movie into a conspiracy thriller. Emily Blunt’s Margaret Fairchild and Josh O’Connor’s Daniel Kellner find themselves connected to decades of secrecy, while Colin Firth’s Noah Scanlon heads WARDEX, an organisation built around the belief that some truths may simply be too dangerous to share.

It is still a story about aliens. But it’s also a story about information. Who controls it? Who decides when the public is ready? And what happens when something capable of rewriting humanity’s understanding of itself can no longer be kept secret?

Suddenly the question isn’t “Are they here?” It’s “Who knew they were here?” Which, frankly, feels like a much more stressful conversation.

The age of disclosure

That idea has a particularly contemporary origin. Spielberg’s interest in UFOs was reignited by the renewed public discussion around UAPs and reports of government investigations into unexplained phenomena.

“That article blew up my interest again in the whole UFO/UAP phenomenon,” Spielberg says of the 2017 New York Times report on a previously undisclosed Pentagon programme.

“I wasn’t alone. When that story came out, it grabbed the attention of people who never believed in UFOs to begin with, and so many more of us who have always believed that something’s been going on that we just simply haven’t been told. I think people’s questions about what’s going on—in our skies; in our world; with reality itself—has reached a critical mass of complete fascination. Are we alone or not? And if the government knows, why haven’t we been told? And that is what got me wondering if maybe it was time for another story in my canon of extraterrestrial stories that I have been involved in throughout my whole career.”

And there, really, is the hook. First contact has always been about the unknown. Disclosure Day is about what happens when the unknown becomes information.

That feels particularly potent in an era when humanity has never had greater access to information while simultaneously seeming less capable of agreeing on any of it.

If incontrovertible proof of extraterrestrial life appeared tomorrow, would everybody accept it? Of course not. Within minutes somebody would call it fake, somebody else would have a 47-part online thread explaining why they predicted it in 2009, there would probably be a TikTok dance, and someone would almost certainly be selling commemorative T-shirts.

The truth is out there. Now what?

That makes Disclosure Day both comfortably familiar and slightly unusual as a first-contact movie. It gives us UFO lore, secret programmes and the tantalising possibility of recovered extraterrestrial technology (all dependable ingredients in the ‘first contact’ genre cupboard) while shifting the real conflict towards our ability to process the truth.

Spielberg puts it most clearly himself: “Disclosure Day is a movie about misinformation and the challenge of finding truth in a culture when powerful people have tools to blur the lines of fact and fiction, of what is real and unreal, in service of protecting and advancing their agendas,” he says. “It’s a movie that also asks questions about what we do with truth that expands our understanding of the universe in a way that challenges the beliefs that give us meaning, including religion. The X-Files taught us that the truth is out there, but what happens when we find it? Can we accept it? Do we reject it? Will it bring us together or divide us further?

“Ultimately, though, I think Disclosure Day is a story about empathy as an extraordinary resource, and how it needs to be shared globally, with the entire world, not hoarded for self-interest or reserved for those closest to us.”

And that is why filmmakers keep making first-contact movies. The aliens can change. The spaceships can change. The threat can change. But the really interesting thing is always us.

How would we react? What would we believe? Would we unite, panic or immediately start arguing?

Spielberg has been asking versions of those questions since Firelight. Nearly 50 years after Close Encounters, he is still fascinated by the possibility that something might be waiting beyond our world.

Only now, the question has evolved. For years, first-contact movies have asked what happens when aliens finally arrive. Disclosure Day asks something potentially much more awkward: What happens when we discover they arrived a long time ago, and somebody forgot to mention it?

• Disclosure Day is out on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD now. 

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By CHRIS MELORE, US DEPUTY SCIENCE EDITOR

The CIA has been accused of gaining secret access to the DNA information of millions of people as the intelligence agency allegedly searches for alien life on Earth.

Jason Reza Jorjani, a philosophy PhD and science fiction writer, recently claimed that he spoke with a retired US Army sergeant who served as a 'psychic spy' and knew of the government's secret program to hunt down individuals with extraterrestrial DNA.

Jorjani said on the American Alchemy podcast that the CIA, the nation's premier foreign intelligence agency, has a backdoor program that allows it to search through genetic testing companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry.com.

According to the author, the purpose is to look for individuals who have DNA ancestry tied to a race of aliens known as the Nordics, who allegedly look like extremely tall humans from Scandinavia, with blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin.

Despite the Trump Administration releasing multiple batches of previously classified reports on UFOs and the search for alien life, the Pentagon has maintained for years that there has been no proof aliens exist.

Jorjani claimed the source of his information was Army veteran Lyn Buchanan, who has publicly stated that he was trained as a remote viewer - the CIA's secret program to have 'psychic spies' perceive information about distant objects, events or people.

Buchanan has also claimed in podcast interviews that the government was actively looking for people whose DNA did not fit into the standard patterns of human ancestry and has been listed as 'other' or 'unknown unidentifiable.'

Jorjani claimed that Buchanan told him about an extraordinary incident where he was contacted by a group of Nordics who said they were aware of the CIA's efforts to track down alien-human hybrids and had requested his help.

An alleged alien race known as the Nordics is said to have human-like features (stock image)

A former Army remote viewer has allegedly claimed that the CIA has access to popular DNA testing sites 23andMe and Ancestry, and has been hunting for alien DNA online

Jorjani said: 'They live in like small towns in the [Colorado] Rockies and they pass because they look like tall Scandinavian people.'

Although Jorjani did not reveal the date and location of the incident, he claimed that Buchanan was approached by three Nordics in a diner who explained that members of this alien race had traveled to Earth in order to escape their own world's 'tyrannical' government.

The author added that the Nordics had allegedly intermarried with humans and given birth to hybrid offspring for generations. Their only goal on Earth now was to live in a free society and protect their children and grandchildren. 

'So he said, "Look, we know that Kit Green at the CIA has some program to access the 23andMe and like whatever, Ancestry.com, databases through some backdoor and that they are screening whoever signs up for these services for a specific genetic variance from the normal Homo sapiens population which the CIA knows to be the genetic marker of these Nordics,"' Jorjani claimed during the November episode.

Christopher 'Kit' Green was a CIA scientist for 20 years and publicly admitted to working on the remote viewing program before officially leaving the agency in 1985.

The author did not clarify how Green was involved in the CIA's alleged access to these DNA databases since he reportedly left the intelligence community decades before both companies were founded.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Green, 23andMe and Ancestry for comment regarding the claims of DNA surveillance.

In a separate interview in 2023, Buchanan seemed to confirm part of what Jorjani said, adding that he would never participate in a DNA test from 23andMe because of the information he possessed.

Jason Reza Jorjani (above) is a philosophy PhD and science fiction writer who claimed he spoke with Lyn Buchanan, a former Army remote viewer

A category of DNA is allegedly listed at 'other,' meaning its origins are unknown (stock image)

Buchanan told the Through A Glass Darkly podcast: 'There is a wedge on the pie chart, you know Germanic, African and all this. There's a wedge called "other," which means unknown unidentifiable and there are, from what I found out, there are government people who are looking into that wedge.'

Ancestry.com has claimed that they have 'the world’s largest consumer DNA network' with more than 30 million people in their database.

Meanwhile, 23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March last year due to financial difficulties, a major data breach in 2023 and declining demand. 

The company was acquired by TTAM Research Institute, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, last July. More than 15 million people have reportedly used the DNA service.

According to Jorjani, the alleged part-human descendants of the Nordics do not even know they have alien DNA.

'They said, "Look, our children, especially our grandchildren, have no idea where they're from. We tell them stories about how like their grandparents are from Sweden or whatever, and they don't know,"' Jorjani said regarding Buchanan's encounter. 

'You know, we just want them to have lives of peace and liberty here in America. But the CIA wants to hunt them down.'

The claims that the US government is allegedly aware of alien-human hybrids living on Earth have been stunningly supported by UFO whistleblowers and even members of Congress.

Missouri congressman Eric Burlison has stated that President Trump was told about the alleged existence of at least four alien species humans secretly know about.

Moreover, Burlison and retired US Air Force Major David Grusch have confirmed that Trump was 'fully briefed' on the Nordics creating alien-human hybrids.

During an X space interview on June 27 last year, Burlison added that Grusch was the intelligence officer who briefed the president on 'crossbreeds living in the world' but noted that Grusch did not have an answer when asked how humans would be able to tell if someone was an alien hybrid.

Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz also recently claimed that the US has secretly been running 'forced breeding programs' to create alien-human hybrids.

The controversial conservative firebrand added that a member of the US military described this program to him in detail, saying there were six to 12 secret facilities around the country engaged in abducting humans to mate with extraterrestrials.

Is the CIA is secretly monitoring consumer DNA results? | Do It Live!

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Former U.S. Army ‘Psychic Spy’ Claims CIA Uses 23andMe and Ancestry to Hunt for ‘Alien DNA’

At Mount Hayes, Buchanan claimed earlier viewers had perceived humans and non-human beings working together at what appeared to be an intelligence-gathering installation inside the mountain. When Buchanan later viewed the site, he said the equipment appeared to have become automated, with little need for personnel to remain there.

His description of Mount Ziel was different. Buchanan said he interpreted the Australian location as something resembling a “port of entry,” where supposedly friendly extraterrestrial groups could arrive before traveling elsewhere. He claimed that while viewing the location, he sensed that whatever intelligence occupied it was aware of his presence but allowed him to continue examining the facility.

The Strange Story Behind The DNA Chart Marked “Other”

Buchanan recounts an encounter he says happened in El Paso, Texas. According to him, he had stopped at a restaurant and was returning to his vehicle when two men approached him. He emphasized that they looked human. The men apparently already knew who he was and asked whether he could discover who inside the U.S. government was interested in what they described as the wedge of a DNA chart marked “other.”

Buchanan said he initially had no idea what they meant. He said that he contacted investigative journalist Linda Moulton Howe, whom he knew personally, because he thought she might have information about people in government examining unusual DNA.

Buchanan says the two men subsequently gave him was far stranger. They allegedly claimed that extraterrestrials had removed humans from Earth centuries ago and used them as slaves on another planet. After hundreds of generations away from Earth, they said, the descendants’ DNA had changed as they adapted to that other environment.

According to Buchanan’s retelling, some of these humans were eventually brought back to Earth to perform work connected with alleged extraterrestrial bases. A number of them supposedly escaped. The two men claimed they were among those escapees and had no interest in political power, intelligence work or influencing governments; Buchanan said they simply described themselves as people who wanted to remain free and were afraid that genetic testing could identify them.

Read also:

• David Grusch Just Blew It: He Says He Saw Photos and Videos of Alleged Dead Aliens, Including Living Beings Communicating Telepathically
• Chris Bledsoe Says “The Lady” Showed Him a Vision of an Israel-Iran Nuclear Crisis—Then the Sky Filled With Orbs
• Pentagon UFO Program Scientist Says “Gifted” Chinese Children Teleported Objects Through Sealed Containers

When Michels asked whether the men were physiologically indistinguishable from ordinary humans, Buchanan replied that the two individuals he met appeared human. He also stopped short of presenting the story as something he could prove, telling Michels that he did not know whether what they told him was true.

How 23andMe And Ancestry Entered The Story

Philosopher and author Jason Reza Jorjani told Michels during a recent American Alchemy appearance that Buchanan described human-looking beings often associated with the “Nordic” category in UFO literature. Jorjani claimed these beings had fled an oppressive society, found refuge on Earth, and established families whose later generations might have little or no knowledge of their unusual ancestry.

orjani went further, claiming Buchanan had told him that former CIA scientist Christopher “Kit” Green was connected to a capability for accessing genetic information held by consumer services such as 23andMe and Ancestry. Jorjani alleged that the purpose was to search for a genetic variation that differed from the normal Homo sapiens population and could reveal descendants of these beings.

No document proving such a CIA program has been produced publicly, and no genetic marker recognized by mainstream genetics has been demonstrated to identify extraterrestrial-human ancestry. The claim therefore remains an allegation traveling through a chain of testimony: Jorjani says Buchanan told him the information, while the publicly available evidence does not establish the existence of the alleged database access.

There is also an interesting difference between the two accounts. In Buchanan’s direct 2026 interview with Michels, the men associated with the “other” DNA story are described simply as human-looking escapees whose ancestors had supposedly been taken from Earth. Buchanan does not identify them in that section as Nordics living in Colorado. Jorjani’s version contains those additional details, making it important not to treat every element as though Buchanan made all of the claims publicly in the same interview.

What 23andMe And Ancestry Say About Government Access

23andMe says it scrutinizes government requests and requires legally valid process before considering disclosure. Its customer information currently states that it has not released customer information to law enforcement. The company also says it does not voluntarily provide personal information to law enforcement without valid legal authority such as a court order, subpoena or search warrant.

Ancestry publishes its own government-request transparency reports. Its report covering 2025 says it received zero valid requests for access to customers’ DNA data during that year. More significantly for claims involving intelligence agencies, Ancestry states that as of December 31, 2025, it had never received a classified request under U.S. national-security laws, including a National Security Letter or a request under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The company says DNA disclosure requires, at minimum, a court order or search warrant and that it may challenge legal demands involving genetic data.

Those statements cannot logically disprove an allegation specifically built around an unknown covert “backdoor,” because the allegation itself assumes access outside normal legal channels. They do, however, show that there is currently no public evidence supporting the claim and that the companies’ documented policies describe a very different access process.

Buchanan Claims He Recognized A UFO Control Panel Inside A Military Hangar

Michels also asked whether he believed the U.S. government possessed recovered UFO technology. Buchanan answered yes and described an incident he says occurred while visiting a military hangar used to investigate aircraft accidents. According to him, the facility contained piles of wreckage that investigators were attempting to reconstruct following midair collisions.

As Buchanan walked through the building, he says he suddenly recognized an unusual control panel among the debris and announced that it had come from a UFO. The statement apparently echoed through the metal building, after which, according to Buchanan, the officer in charge quickly had him removed.

Buchanan said he recognized the panel because he had encountered the same kind of technology during what he believes was a physical alien abduction.

He Says A Small Grey Being Showed Him How To Operate A Craft

Buchanan told Michels that the alleged abduction happened while he was serving as a Methodist minister in East Texas. He recalled hearing something arrive outside his home before finding himself in an unfamiliar white room.

Among the beings he described were very tall humanoid figures and a much smaller grey being. Buchanan said the small being eventually took him toward the front of a craft, where it appeared to function as the pilot.

The control system he remembered was unlike a conventional aircraft cockpit. Buchanan described a surface containing a hand-shaped area in which individual finger positions corresponded to different functions. He claimed the craft responded to the user and that he was allowed to try operating it.

Years later, he said, seeing what appeared to be the same style of control panel among wreckage in a military facility immediately triggered his recognition.

A “Mantis” Being Working Alongside Humans

Michels also asked Buchanan whether he had ever physically seen humans and non-human beings working together rather than merely encountering them during remote viewing.

Buchanan answered that he had seen what he described as an “insectoid.” He compared the being to the mantis-like entities sometimes reported in UFO and paranormal literature and said it was seated alongside humans who were operating equipment.

He refused to identify the location or surrounding circumstances, saying those details were connected with information he would not disclose.

Mars, Rendlesham And UFO Crash Retrievals

The interview continued through several other well-known mysteries in the remote-viewing and UFO world. Buchanan said he had experienced what remote viewers call “bilocation” or “perfect site integration,” in which the viewer becomes so absorbed in a target that the environment seems physically present.

He recalled one session in which he believed he found himself in the Cydonia region of Mars, feeling sand beneath his feet, experiencing the cold and seeing an orange-red landscape. He later claimed that imagery shown to him matched portions of what he had perceived during the session.

Buchanan also discussed the famous 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident in England. He claimed to have remotely examined a triangular craft associated with the case and drawn what he interpreted as its internal layout, including a reddish interior, a control area and a compartment that appeared to hold samples.

Asked directly whether he believed the United States has operated a UFO crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering program, Buchanan said he did. He nevertheless drew an interesting distinction, telling Michels that he did not believe the military remote-viewing unit was formally part of such a program because, according to him, his unit was not normally tasked with UFO crash retrieval.

The Government Really Did Study Remote Viewing, But That Does Not Verify Buchanan’s UFO Claims

The U.S. intelligence community genuinely spent years investigating remote viewing. Declassified CIA records document experiments, operational sessions and efforts to determine whether anomalous perception could have intelligence value. The CIA says the research eventually passed to the DIA and became associated with the program widely remembered as STARGATE.

However, the government’s acknowledgment that remote-viewing research existed should not be confused with confirmation of every extraordinary story told by people who participated in that world.

A CIA-commissioned review by the American Institutes for Research in 1995 concluded that although some experimental results appeared difficult to dismiss as simple randomness, remote viewing had proven too inconsistent and ambiguous to produce dependable actionable intelligence. The reviewers concluded that continued operational use was not warranted.

That leaves Buchanan’s latest interview in an unusual place. Parts of his biography are tied to a genuine and once-classified chapter of American intelligence history, while his claims about alien installations, non-human beings, UFO technology and altered extraterrestrial-linked DNA remain unsupported by publicly verifiable physical evidence.

The connection to 23andMe and Ancestry is even more indirect. Buchanan’s own interview gives a detailed account of two apparently human men asking about a mysterious “other” category in DNA analysis, while Jorjani is the source publicly connecting Buchanan’s story to an alleged CIA backdoor into major commercial genetic databases.

Whether those stories eventually lead to documentation or remain part of the strange mythology surrounding America’s psychic-intelligence programs is an open question. What can be established is that the U.S. government really did spend decades studying remote viewing, Buchanan really was part of that world, and more than thirty years after those programs emerged from secrecy, some of their former participants are still telling stories considerably stranger than anything contained in the declassified files.

{ https://howandwhys.com/ }

Mini alien species does exist on Mars, heres the proof, UFO UAP Sighting News.

Date of discovery: Sept 23, 2026

Location of discovery: Mars

Source photo: 

• https://areo.info/mer/opportunity/5076/tn/1P578810104ESFD2E2P2370L5M1_L2L5L5L7L7.jpg.html

I just wanted to share this strange discovery. A doorway thats just 6 inches high and 7 inches wide. It has a rim around it like a doorway would to make it stronger. No door is seen, but a dark cave entrance is very visible. This entrance is attached to a round oval object that looks like a carved out rock to make a home for something intelligent. A mini species with the ability to carve out a structure much like ancient native Indians use to do in the cliffs and rocky mountain areas tens of thousands of years ago. Extraordinary that something this small could exist, survive and create these dwellings. 

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily 

 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

The curse of King Tutankhamun’s tomb: As archaeologists plan to drill inside to look for Queen Nefertiti - the unsettling stories of people allegedly doomed after its opening

By XANTHA LEATHAM, EXECUTIVE SCIENCE EDITOR

The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 captivated the world – but it also gave rise to one of archaeology's most enduring legends.

A string of illnesses, accidents and untimely deaths among people linked to the excavation fuelled claims that the young pharaoh's resting place was protected by a deadly curse.

Now, as archaeologists consider drilling into suspected hidden chambers that could contain the long-lost tomb of Nefertiti, the eerie stories surrounding the so-called 'curse of the pharaoh' have resurfaced.

The first person fell 'victim' to the curse just five months after the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb.

Lord Carnarvon, chief financial backer for the project, died on April 5, 1923, from blood poisoning and pneumonia after a mosquito bite on his face became infected.

However, some have claimed inhaling spores from the pharaoh's crypt contributed to his death.

The rumours were fuelled by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes series, who, in a piece published in the Glasgow Herald, said: 'An evil elemental may have caused Lord Carnarvon's fatal illness.

'One does not know what elementals existed in those days, nor what their form might be. The Egyptians knew a great deal more about those things than we do.'

A string of illnesses, accidents and untimely deaths among people linked to the excavation fuelled claims that the young pharaoh's resting place was protected by a deadly curse. Pictured: Howard Carter examining Tutankhamun's sarcophagus

New scans have revealed tantalising evidence of a previously unknown network of corridors and chambers (pictured in purple and yellow) just metres from the young pharaoh's burial chamber (in grey). KV 9 refers to the nearby tomb of the pharaohs Ramesses V and Ramesses VI

Another 'cursed' individual who visited King Tut's tomb was George Jay Gould, a wealthy American financier.

He visited the crypt in 1923 as Lord Carnarvon's guest but fell sick almost immediately afterwards. He never recovered and died of pneumonia a few months later.

Arthur Mace, meanwhile, was an archaeologist who helped clear and catalogue the tomb's treasures.

He suffered declining health after working in the tomb and died aged 53 from complications linked to pneumonia.

One of the most mysterious deaths was that of Hugh Evelyn-White, the archaeologist who entered the burial chamber and who took his own life in 1924.

According to reports, he left a note saying: 'I have succumbed to a curse.'

Bizarrely, some of the curse 'victims' never even stepped foot in the tomb.

Lord Carnarvon's half-brother Aubrey Herbert also died in 1923 – shortly after the tomb was opened – after developing blood poisoning following dental surgery.

This added to speculation surrounding the family, with some suggesting he suffered from the curse merely by being related to Lord Carnarvon.

It is believed that inhaling spores from Tutankhamun's tomb may have contributed to the death of Lord Carnarvon, the chief financial backer for the project. Pictured: Experts in the burial chamber during the excavation of the mummy

Members of the team that discovered the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in 1922. From left, Arthur Mace (died 1928), Richard Bethell (died 1929), Arthur Callender (died 1937), Lady Evelyn Herbert (died 1980), Howard Carter (died 1939), Lord Carnarvon, (died 1923), Alfred Lucas (died 1945) and official photographer Harry Burton (died 1940)

Another person who allegedly fell foul of the mummy's curse was Aaron Ember, who died in 1926.

Although not directly involved in the excavation, the Egyptologist was friends with members of the team. He died in a house fire while attempting to save a manuscript on ancient Egyptian beliefs.

While Howard Carter – the man who was credited with discovering the tomb – appeared unaffected by any mysterious wrongdoing, the same can't be said for his friends.

Publishing entrepreneur Sir Bruce Ingram reportedly received a mummified hand as a gift from Mr Carter, which he used as a paperweight.

Soon after, his house allegedly burned down and was subsequently damaged by flooding during rebuilding.

Another figure frequently cited in curse stories is radiologist Sir Archibald Douglas Reid.

Popular lore and sensationalised news reports from the 1920s claimed that Sir Archibald X-rayed King Tut's remains just before the mummy was handed over to museum authorities.

Storytellers claim he fell ill the next day and died three days later in Switzerland following abdominal surgery.

Lord Carnarvon (left) died months after the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb. Howard Carter (right)is the man who first discovered the crypt

Renowned Egyptologist James Henry Breasted was also part of Howard Carter's team during the exploration of Tutankhamun's tomb.

According to legend, shortly after the discovery he returned home to find his pet canary had been killed by a cobra that was still sitting inside the bird's cage.

As the cobra was a powerful symbol of ancient Egyptian royalty and appeared on pharaohs' headdresses as a sign of protection, the incident was widely interpreted as an ominous warning.

However, perhaps the strongest argument against the curse is the fate of Howard Carter himself.

The archaeologist who discovered the tomb, oversaw its excavation and spent more time inside it than anyone else lived for another 17 years, dying from cancer in 1939 at the age of 64.

Far from meeting a mysterious end, Mr Carter's relatively long life has led many historians to dismiss the so-called curse of the pharaoh as little more than a myth fuelled by coincidence.

KING TUTANKHAMUN: THE PHARAOH WHO RULED EGYPT MORE THAN 3,000 YEARS AGO

The face of Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, and ruled between 1332 BC and 1323 BC. Right, his famous gold funeral mask

Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, and ruled between 1332 BC and 1323 BC.

He was the son of Akhenaten and took to the throne at the age of nine or ten.

When he became king, he married his half-sister, Ankhesenpaaten.

He died at around the age of 18 and his cause of death is unknown.

In 1907, Lord Carnarvon George Herbert asked English archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter to supervise excavations in the Valley of the Kings.

On 4 November 1922, Carter's group found steps that led to Tutankhamun's tomb.

He spent several months cataloguing the antechamber before opening the burial chamber and discovering the sarcophagus in February 1923.

When the tomb was discovered in 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter, under the patronage of Lord Carnarvon, the media frenzy that followed was unprecedented.

Carter and his team took 10 years to clear the tomb of its treasure because of the multitude of objects found within it. 

For many, Tut embodies ancient Egypt's glory because his tomb was packed with the glittering wealth of the rich 18th Dynasty from 1569 to 1315 BC.

Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass (3rd L) supervises the removal of the lid of the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in 2007.

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Has Queen Nefertiti finally been found? New scans provide fresh evidence for a hidden chamber beyond Tutankhamun's tomb that could hold the remains of his long-lost stepmother

By XANTHA LEATHAM, EXECUTIVE SCIENCE EDITOR

It is the most famous tomb in the world, extensively studied by Egyptologists since it was discovered by Howard Carter more than a century ago and visited by hundreds of thousands every year.

But archaeologists believe they may have uncovered a new secret hiding behind the walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

For scans have revealed tantalising evidence of a previously unknown network of corridors and chambers just metres from the young pharaoh’s burial chamber.

If the researchers are right, they could contain one of ancient Egypt’s greatest missing treasures – the long-lost burial place of his stepmother, Queen Nefertiti.

The study, first reported in Nature, involved a range of geophysical surveys and clues from ground-penetrating radar.

Analysis of the tomb structure, the ground around it and wall paintings indicate there is a 'hidden complex' of corridors and rooms.

They appear to pre-date the entombment of Tutankhamun, the experts said – suggesting they could hold the remains of his stepmother. If confirmed, the discovery could 'rank among the most transformative archaeological discoveries of the modern era'.

Any excavation or drilling would require approval from Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. If approved, careful drilling to deploy tiny tractors equipped with cameras could start in the next two months.

New scans have revealed tantalising evidence of a previously unknown network of corridors and chambers (pictured in purple and yellow) just metres from the young pharaoh's burial chamber (in grey). KV 9 refers to the nearby tomb of the pharaohs Ramesses V and Ramesses VI

A room inside the tomb of King Tutankhamun, who died at the age of 18 or 19, in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Analysis of the tomb structure, the ground around it and wall paintings indicate there is a 'hidden complex' of corridors and rooms 

The idea that there could be a hidden chamber within the tomb containing Tutankhamun's predecessor, Nefertiti, was first proposed in 2015 by British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves

He said lines and cracks in the north wall of the burial chamber, as well as alterations to the room's paintings, made him believe the structure was a false wall.

The tomb itself is unexpectedly small for a royal burial, leading some to think it is part of a larger network of chambers.

Mr Reeves proposed that when Tutankhamun died unexpectedly, as a teenager, a much larger royal tomb was adapted for his burial, with the deeper sections blocked off.

For the new study, archaeologists at Egypt's National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics used powerful ground-penetrating radar to probe the interior walls of the tomb.

Their analysis indicates a 6.5 foot (two metre) wide corridor leading away from the burial chamber.

George Ballard, co-author of the study, said previous teams may have missed it because they were searching for a large void immediately behind the wall.

Further investigations involving a microgravity survey – a technique that can measure density through tiny variations in the Earth's gravitational field – pointed to a series of hidden chambers tucked into the rock behind.

Further investigations involving a microgravity survey – a technique that can measure density through tiny variations in the Earth's magnetic field – pointed to a series of hidden chambers tucked into the rock behind (depicted with dashed yellow lines)

The proposed opening to the corridor, in what experts believe could be a 'false wall' in the side of Tutankhamun's tomb

The study, published in Occasional Papers of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project, compares the layout of Tutankhamun's tomb to others, including that of Hatshepsut – one of ancient Egypt's most powerful female pharaohs.

The team point out that the exit in Tutankhamun's tomb is left-turning – identical to the layout of Hatshepsut's resting place.

However, tombs for kings during this period all have right-turning exits.

'The implication of this leftwards turn is clear,' the team wrote. 'KV 62 [Tutankhamun's tomb] conforms to the architectural grammar of neither a private nor a kingly monument.

'The plan Tutankhamun's tomb follows is that of an Eighteenth Dynasty Queen.'

The researchers add that Tutankhamun's burial chamber may have initially served as an intermediary space separating the tomb's visible outer apartments from an original burial suite further back.

This adds to the theory that the tomb was originally for Queen Nefertiti, before being adapted for the early death of her stepson.

The walls of Tutankhamun's burial chamber may contain another clue. Experts believe some of the paintings were originally created for an earlier royal – and that images of Nefertiti may have been altered to portray her stepson after his unexpected death.

Experts believe some of the paintings were originally created for an earlier royal – and that images of Nefertiti may have been altered to portray her son after his unexpected death

View of the proposed funerary complex, showing how it cuts deep into the rock in the Valley of the Kings

'Close analysis confirms that the space employed as a burial chamber for Tutankhamun had not been conceived as such,' the researchers wrote.

'It had originally played a very different, median role within a larger, ultimately regal tomb.

'The identification of the owner and original occupant of this larger tomb is dependent on satisfying a tightly constrained set of conditions: to have been female, as tomb type indicates… to have enjoyed full pharaonic status, and to have been Tutankhamun's immediate predecessor.

'With none but Nefertiti… meeting these criteria, it comes as no surprise to find the north wall's ownership imagery replicating the precise profile of this very lady.'

The team suggest that Tutankhamun's death – barely a decade after his stepmother passed away – prompted the reopening of Nefertiti's tomb and for the outermost rooms to be repurposed as his burial chamber.

'[This room] was now redesigned as a burial chamber for Tutankhamun, with satellite side-rooms newly quarried,' the team wrote.

'[The] single, north wall scene was then revised to suit its new ownership and role.

'By the time these changes had been fully implemented, KV 62 presented the appearance of ownership by Tutankhamun alone – which, for more than a century, is how it has been completely misunderstood.'

One chamber in particular appears to be closed off, with no link to other entrances.

The researchers said there's a chance it could be filled with objects – which may not have been touched since they were first put there more than 3,000 years ago.

KING TUTANKHAMUN: THE PHARAOH WHO RULED EGYPT MORE THAN 3,000 YEARS AGO

The face of Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, and ruled between 1332 BC and 1323 BC. Right, his famous gold funeral mask

Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, and ruled between 1332 BC and 1323 BC.

He was the son of Akhenaten and took to the throne at the age of nine or ten.

When he became king, he married his half-sister, Ankhesenpaaten.

He died at around the age of 18 and his cause of death is unknown.

In 1907, Lord Carnarvon George Herbert asked English archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter to supervise excavations in the Valley of the Kings.

On 4 November 1922, Carter's group found steps that led to Tutankhamun's tomb.

He spent several months cataloguing the antechamber before opening the burial chamber and discovering the sarcophagus in February 1923.

When the tomb was discovered in 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter, under the patronage of Lord Carnarvon, the media frenzy that followed was unprecedented.

Carter and his team took 10 years to clear the tomb of its treasure because of the multitude of objects found within it. 

For many, Tut embodies ancient Egypt's glory because his tomb was packed with the glittering wealth of the rich 18th Dynasty from 1569 to 1315 BC.

Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass (3rd L) supervises the removal of the lid of the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in 2007.

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EXCLUSIVE - Noah's Ark resting place '100% confirmed' after 4,300 years as astonishing 'man-made' structure is detected buried deep underground

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

High in the mountains of Turkey sits a mysterious boat-shaped formation that some researchers believe could be the remains of Noah's Ark.

According to the Bible, the massive vessel saved humanity and every kind of animal from annihilation during a catastrophic flood that some biblical chronologies place more than 4,300 years ago.

Now, an international team examining the Durupınar Formation near Mount Ararat claims it has '100 percent confirmed' that the mound is not a natural geological feature but a 'man-made object.'

Recent radar surveys reportedly revealed structural layers, straight lines, right-angle intersections and large cavity-like spaces at multiple depths.

Most strikingly, researchers claim scans show potential chambers, corridors and tunnels along with a thick underground layer dividing into three parts – a feature they compared to God's command in Genesis for Noah to build the Ark with three decks.

Physical core drilling also found a layer rich in organic material, which researchers are testing to determine whether it contains decayed wood.

Independent researcher Andrew Jones, the founder of Noah's Ark Scans who has investigated the area for nearly 30 years, told the Daily Mail neither the radar surveys nor drilling conducted inside the formation detected limestone or solid bedrock.

'This destroys the theory the site is a solid limestone block shaped into a boat by glaciers and weathering after coming down the mountainside, and it also refutes the theory that this is bedrock around which mud flowed to form the shape,' he said.

A group of researchers think a formation in Turkish mountains could be remains of Noah's Ark 

The team recently drilled into the formation, collecting samples that may contain vital evidence

Jones acknowledged the evidence has not definitively identified the formation as the biblical vessel.

But he added: 'I firmly believe the Durupınar Formation represents the buried remains of Noah's Ark.'

He described the latest scans as a 'compelling new line of evidence' suggesting the site contains non-natural structures, but said they are not definitive proof.

The first major radar survey in 2019 detected linear and angular anomalies the team interpreted as possible walls, passageways and separate compartments.

A deeper investigation conducted in 2026 by Dr Khosrow Bakhtar used an advanced radar system developed through US Air Force research, capable of probing significantly deeper than earlier equipment. 

The system detected massive layered reflectors, underground boundaries that bounce radar signals back toward the surface, as well as what the team interpreted as sediment-filled cavities.

Five prominent anomalies appeared to form a possible tunnel system extending across roughly 151 feet, with an average structural height of over 14 feet.

An international team are '100 percent confident' that the formation is a 'man-made object

Two other major anomalies measured approximately 26 feet and 39 feet high, while another distinct underground feature stood about 23 feet high.

At several locations, the radar detected a layer measuring between 16 and 20 feet thick, approximately 16 feet beneath the surface.

That layer appeared to contain three separate sublayers.

But the readings are not photographs of exposed rooms or passageways. They instead show how radar waves reacted to different materials and boundaries beneath the ground.

Those anomalies must be physically investigated before researchers can determine what produced them.

The team is using the measurements as a road map to select the most promising locations for further drilling.

The site was formally identified in 1959 by a shepherd and has sparked intrigue ever since

The samples (pictured) will be tested for signs of decaying wood, which may prove the theory

Lauren Witzke, director of marketing and fundraising for Noah's Ark Scans, claimed the formation's uppermost section is deteriorating.

'The top, and most exposed, tier is decaying, and the hardened mudflow encasing the rims of the boat are basically the only thing holding it together,' she said.

'It's very fragile, as to be expected with 4,300-year-old wood. But beneath the surface, the bottom two layers appear to still be intact, and we believe we have hit a floor of petrified wood.'

However, researchers have not confirmed the material is wood, nor have they  scientifically dated anything recovered from drilling to 4,300 years ago.

Jones stressed the figure represents a proposed biblical time frame for the flood rather than an established scientific age.

The team must isolate suitable organic material from its core samples and submit it for radiocarbon dating before it can determine whether the site fits that timeline.

Researchers have also discovered pottery outside the formation dating from the Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, through the Iron Age.

The team said the pottery helps establish people occupied or visited the mountainside across a long period of ancient history and identifies areas that may warrant further archaeological investigation.

The radar captured 'a series of right angles' about 20 feet down, which researchers believe could be rooms that held animals on the ark

Further studies using infrared thermography (IRT) may show a ship-shaped hull under the soil

'It's quite possible this pottery was used to store food and supplies on the Ark, and was used as Noah's family exited the Ark and set up camp (the Bible says Noah was living in a tent),' Witzke shared in a statement.

However, Jones acknowledged pottery alone cannot establish that the formation is the Ark or demonstrate that the people who left the artifacts were connected to it.

The Durupınar Formation lies about 18 miles south of Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest peak.

Local accounts claim heavy rain and earthquakes exposed its unusual outline in 1948, when it was reportedly noticed by a Kurdish shepherd.

The site was formally identified in 1959 after Turkish Army Captain İlhan Durupınar spotted its ship-like outline in aerial survey photographs.

The team found pottery which they say predates what biblical scholars call the Great Flood 

The Durupınar Formation lies about 18 miles south of Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest peak

Much of the fascination surrounding the mound stems from its elongated shape and dimensions, which researchers say closely resemble the biblical description of the Ark.

Scripture describes the vessel as roughly 515 feet long, 86 feet wide and 52 feet tall. Yet the formation has divided investigators for decades.

Early researchers who surveyed and excavated the site reported finding only soil and rocks, concluding it was a naturally formed geological feature rather than remains of a vessel.

Most geologists continue to favor a natural explanation, while Ark researchers argue the new radar readings, core samples and nearby pottery justify another investigation.

'What excites me most about this phase is that we are transitioning from remote imaging to collecting physical samples deep within the site, allowing us to scientifically evaluate hypotheses that have been debated for decades,' Jones said.

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Scientists detect radio signals coming directly from an exoplanet for the first time

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Radio signals coming directly from an exoplanet have been detected for the very first time.

Astronomers used the massive MeerKAT radio telescope array in South Africa to spot short, repeating bursts of radio waves.

Using bright galaxy cores called quasars as reference points, the scientists were able to pin down this signal's origin to a single planet 63.4 light-years from Earth.

However, the researchers say this isn't an alien civilisation trying to send us a message.

Instead, the signal is coming from the exoplanet's auroras, created by charged particles from its parent star interacting with the magnetic field.

On Earth, these same effects create the dazzling Northern Lights, but no one has been able to pick up the signal of an alien aurora outside the solar system before now.

In their pre-print paper, the researchers write: 'Although auroral radio bursts are observed in Solar System planets and in some ultracool dwarfs, no radio detection has previously been unambiguously localized to an extrasolar planet rather than its host star.'

Radio signals coming directly from an exoplanet, a planet outside the solar system, have been detected for the very first time (illustrated)

Astronomers used the massive MeerKAT radio telescope array in South Africa to spot short, repeating bursts of radio waves (illustrated) 

On four separate occasions in 2025 and 2026, scientists focused their radio telescopes on the distant star Beta Pictoris.

Previous studies have found that this star is home to four orbiting exoplanets, named Beta Pictoris a, Beta Pictoris b, Beta Pictoris c and Beta Pictoris d.

Although scientists have detected powerful radio bursts from the solar system, it has previously been immensely difficult to filter out any planetary signals from the noise of a nearby star.

However, the particular type of star and radio signal the astronomers found made this fine separation possible for the first time.

The radio signal was highly circularly polarised, which is a classic signature of a signal emitted by a planet's aurora.

Beta Pictoris is also an 'early–type star', meaning it is larger, hotter, and structured differently from stars like our sun.

However, these types of stars are incapable of producing the kinds of radio signals the researchers were seeing.

The authors wrote: 'No physical mechanism known to cause radio emission in early–type stars can explain the observed emission.'

That means the radio signal must be coming from one of the orbiting exoplanets, rather than the star itself.

The signals were traced back to Beta Pictoris b, a massive gas giant orbiting a star 63.4 light–years from Earth

Beta Pictoris is home to four exoplanets, including Beta Pictoris b, which became the faintest exoplanet ever to be directly imaged last year (pictured)

Using the bright reference points of quasars, the scientists finally found that the signal was being emitted by Beta Pictoris b, the second planet out from the star.

Previous studies have shown that Beta Pictoris b is a young, massive gas giant, about 10 times the mass of Jupiter.

What makes this discovery so exciting is that it opens up a new avenue for understanding the makeup of exoplanets.

Beta Pictoris b's aurora is produced by an effect called Electron Cyclotron Maser Instability, which is the same process that creates the stunning auroras on planets like Jupiter and Mars.

Since scientists have a good understanding of how this effect works, they can use the radio signals it produces to make predictions about the planet itself.

Using their new measurements, the researchers were able to show that Beta Pictoris b has an incredibly strong magnetic field, thousands of times more powerful than Earth's.

These signals are further boosted by the planet's rapid rotation, with the researchers estimating that days on Beta Pictoris b only last eight to nine hours.

While it might be disappointing that these signals don't come from an alien race, insights like these could be key to finding life beyond our solar system one day.

A planet's magnetic field insulates the surface from harmful radiation that would destroy early life and helps hold the atmosphere together against the ravages of solar wind.

If astronomers can isolate aurora signals from exoplanets, they can also figure out which planets are most likely to have conditions favourable for life.

The researchers already have plans to use their new techniques on seven other exoplanets located in five solar systems.

These planets could soon be analysed in the same way as Beta Pictoris b, with planned next-generation radio observatories making even more sensitive observations possible.

Scientists study the atmosphere of distant exoplanets using enormous space satellites like Hubble

Distant stars and their orbiting planets often have conditions unlike anything we see in our atmosphere. 

To understand these new world's, and what they are made of, scientists need to be able to detect what their atmospheres consist of.  

They often do this by using a telescope similar to Nasa's Hubble Telescope.

These enormous satellites scan the sky and lock on to exoplanets that Nasa think may be of interest. 

Here, the sensors on board perform different forms of analysis. 

One of the most important and useful is called absorption spectroscopy. 

This form of analysis measures the light that is coming out of a planet's atmosphere. 

Every gas absorbs a slightly different wavelength of light, and when this happens a black line appears on a complete spectrum. 

These lines correspond to a very specific molecule, which indicates it's presence on the planet. 

They are often called Fraunhofer lines after the German astronomer and physicist that first discovered them in 1814.

By combining all the different wavelengths of lights, scientists can determine all the chemicals that make up the atmosphere of a planet. 

The key is that what is missing, provides the clues to find out what is present.  

It is vitally important that this is done by space telescopes, as the atmosphere of Earth would then interfere. 

Absorption from chemicals in our atmosphere would skew the sample, which is why it is important to study the light before it has had chance to reach Earth. 

This is often used to look for helium, sodium and even oxygen in alien atmospheres.  

This diagram shows how light passing from a star and through the atmosphere of an exoplanet produces Fraunhofer lines indicating the presence of key compounds such as sodium or helium 

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Man takes on ‘Terminator’ robot in historic fight – and it’s as brutal as you’d expect

 Sarah Hooper | Live News Reporter

American influencer Frankie LaPenna decided to go against a humanoid android robot during an MMA fight.

Believed to be a world first, LaPenna entered the ring against a Rek Robotics ‘Rekbot’, which has been compared to a T-800 from ‘The Terminator’.

Rek Robotics wrote on X: ‘We just made history with the first Human VS Terminator robot fight. Frankie LaPenna gave it his all.’

Footage from the clip showed the large robot pumping its ‘fists’, with glaring red eyes and a skull-like head attachment.

The android even ‘stretched’ before beginning to throw punches.

LaPenna put up a good fight, getting a few rounds in before the robot’s roundhouse kicked him to the ground.

The terrifying robot had a skull and moving eyes (Picture: Rek Robotics)

Footage of the fight has already been compared to scenes from ‘The Terminator’.

One person wrote: ‘Humans are cooked.’

It was later revealed that the robot was being controlled by a human, but the fight has many people questioning what could become a reality in years to come – humans versus robots.

Recent footage of Chinese humanoid robots sparked fears that humanoids could be the future of global military conflicts.

Metro previously spoke to leading war experts about the role humanoid robots could play in future battlefields or whether they’ll remain a dystopian fantasy.

The human opponent Frankie LaPenna was no match for the humanoid (Picture: Rek Robotics)

Dr James Pritchett, a War Studies Lecturer at Hull University, told Metro: ‘In the West, we have become very casualty-averse. We don’t like to take risks.

‘Robots are a great alternative to that. You can send a machine to do a person’s job.’

But China accounted for around 90% of all humanoid robots sold last year and is home to more than 451,000 companies involved in intelligent robotics.

Two of the leading humanoid companies sold a combined 10,000 robots last year, whereas Elon Musk’s Tesla has built just 150 humanoids.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has also been developing its own robotic systems.

Early last year, they conducted a trial using robot dogs to defuse explosives.

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White House Slammed Over 'Distraction' UFO File Release as Critics Call It 'Anything To Distract'

A new UFO file release revives an old debate: disclosure versus distraction, with the government offering records but few answers

By Welbert Bauyaban

The Pentagon releases a sixth PURSUE tranche as critics question its timing and officials stress the process is ongoing

PHOTO AI-generated by Google Gemini

The US Department of War released its sixth batch of declassified and historical unidentified anomalous phenomena records on Friday, 18 September, prompting fresh debate online over whether the disclosure was meaningful or politically timed. Some social-media users characterised the release as a distraction from other issues facing President Donald Trump's administration, but the criticism does not establish that distraction was the purpose of the release.

The files were published under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, or PURSUE, the government programme created after Trump directed federal agencies on 19 February to identify and release records related to UAPs, UFOs and possible extraterrestrial life. The Department has said the material is being reviewed and released in stages as records are located, assessed and declassified.

The Pentagon

© AFP via Getty Images

Officials within the White House are being slammed for releasing a lackluster report on UFOs that many claim is a distraction from the administration's failings.

The newest batch of documents was released by the Department of Defense on Friday and contained 10 different statements and photos of what the department claimed to be UFOs. However, many of the photos taken at night show only the merest pinprick of light, which could be either a star or even a plane.

UFO File Release Adds Historical and Recent UAP Records

Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said the sixth release contained declassified and historical UAP files and that additional material would be published on a rolling basis. He added that the Department and its agency partners were already working on the next release.

PURSUE describes the records in its archive as unresolved, meaning the government has not been able to make a definitive determination about the phenomena shown or reported. The Department also says a case may remain unresolved simply because available information is insufficient, so the designation should not be read as confirmation of an extraordinary or extraterrestrial explanation.

Among the material in Release 06 is the 1952 Tremonton film, a long-running Project Blue Book case involving footage shot near Tremonton, Utah, by US Navy Chief Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse. The release also includes historical records connected to the investigation of that film.

The tranche further includes records linked to reports from local law enforcement in Colorado in October 2023. One accompanying transcript says the officer recorded a reported UAP while narrating what was visible. Identifying details were removed to protect the source and law-enforcement activity, limiting what can be independently determined from the public version.

Other files include infrared footage gathered by US military platforms in locations including the Middle East and the Yellow Sea. The official descriptions are deliberately limited and warn that summaries of what appears in the footage should not be treated as analytical judgments or conclusions about what the objects were.

Release 06 also adds records associated with the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, or AAWSAP, including contracting material and technical research documents. Public records from the release show that the programme involved a contract valued at about $21.9 million (£16.3 million) with Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies. That figure should not be described simply as money spent investigating Skinwalker Ranch because the programme covered a broader range of aerospace research.

UFO File Release Draws Political Criticism Online

The latest disclosure quickly became the subject of political commentary on social media. Some users described the UAP release as an attempt to divert attention from subjects including the economy, foreign policy and other controversies involving the administration. Similar distraction claims have accompanied earlier PURSUE releases.

Those reactions, however, amount to political opinion rather than evidence about why the sixth tranche appeared on 18 September. The Department's published explanation is that PURSUE is a continuing records-review project involving multiple agencies and that new material will be released as files are found and cleared for publication.

"Let's show the first clip. It was taken by a Navy aerial photographer. His name was Delbert Newhouse. It was taken along a Utah highway, he added. "If you look closely, it looks like a drone swarm, but there were no known drones in the sky when this video was taken in 1952."

"I am told they took the first and only copy of this film. They found it in the National Archives," added the Fox News host. "It has been digitized into 4K to be released right here for the first time today."

The release follows earlier PURSUE tranches published on 8 May, 22 May, 12 June, 10 July and 7 August. The sixth tranche therefore forms part of an established disclosure process rather than a one-off release announced only in response to the latest political debate.

UFO documents

© Department of War

Doocy then played another clip, which he said was taken by a Colorado law enforcement officer in 2023. "The officer's narration and some nearby buildings have been redacted," Doocy added.

The news reporter said he had heard the complete, unredacted version, in which the officer described seeing multiple orbs "hovering over a sensitive military installation for 15 minutes at a time." Doocy added, "We have a third clip taken by a drone over the Middle East last year. It showed six objects flying in formation, destination unknown."

"Depending on how they look at this, they say they do not know what they're looking at on the screen," he added. "And then there's this, there's a newly declassified copy of an expense report, a line-by-line expense report."

Doocy said that the report was the $22 million that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) used to investigate a claim of something called Skinwalker Ranch, which even had alleged UFO sightings.

"Senior White House officials are telling me they cannot find any copy of the records. They've got all the proof that this government contractor was spending $22 million to do this investigation," added Doocy. "But we should stress, again, officials do not know what the objects are in these videos that are going to go wide online after this report at war.gov slash UFO."

Spacing out

Many on X were quick to call out the drop as a distraction from the Trump administration's antics. "The white house. Literally anything to distract from all the garbage they're doing," one X user said.

"No one cares, people are concerned about the economy and why Trump forced America into a war on behalf of Israel," another person added. A third person joked that the administration needed to "step it up" and that the file drop was "lame."

The government has also maintained a cautious description of the evidence. PURSUE does not state that unresolved records demonstrate extraterrestrial technology, alien life or any single explanation for the reported sightings. Instead, it presents them as cases in which officials have not reached a definitive determination on the available information.

Parnell said further UAP files would continue to be published on a rolling basis. For now, the sixth release expands the public archive with material spanning decades, while claims that its timing was intended as a political distraction remain unsubstantiated.

{ https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/trending }

Pentagon Releases New UFO Files Showcasing Alleged 'Flying Saucers' and Secret Defence Tech Research

The sixth PURSUE release contains historical case files, military footage and research documents, but offers no evidence that the objects were extraterrestrial

The Pentagon’s latest UFO files include 1952 footage from Utah and defence research into warp drives, wormholes and cloaking technology 

PHOTO Pixabay

The US Department of War released a new tranche of UFO and unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) records on Friday, 18 September, including film of bright, disc‑shaped objects recorded near Tremonton, Utah, in 1952 and documents relating to a US defence programme that examined speculative concepts such as warp drives, wormholes and cloaking.

The sixth tranche was released under the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters, or PURSUE. The collection includes historical case files, military footage and research documents spanning decades.

The department's records classify many of the reported incidents as unresolved and do not establish that any of the objects were extraterrestrial.

Tremonton Sighting Revisited

The release includes the Project Blue Book file on the Tremonton incident, in which US Navy Chief Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse filmed a group of bright objects on 2 July 1952. Newhouse reported seeing roughly 10 to 14 objects, which he described as disc‑shaped.

The subsequent investigation considered several possible explanations, including birds, balloons and optical effects, but did not conclusively identify the objects.

The photographic evidence did not allow investigators to reach a conclusive identification. The release also includes a roughly 65‑minute recording of Air Force Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt giving a UFO briefing in March 1952.

Ruppelt said about 20 per cent of roughly 800 cases were reports from what he regarded as reliable observers for which investigators could draw no conclusion. More recent files include infrared military footage of six spherical objects over the Middle East in 2025, accompanied by a mission report.

Some reports describe objects travelling in groups or appearing to change direction. The available imagery does not, by itself, establish the nature or origin of the objects.

AAWSAP Research Documents

The Defense Intelligence Agency's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program(AAWSAP) programme was established in 2008 to examine potential future aerospace threats and technologies. The programme ran from 2008 to 2012 and is associated with a series of Defense Intelligence Reference Documents, 37 of which were publicly released through FOIA.

The documents cover speculative concepts including warp drives, wormholes, antigravity, negative‑mass propulsion, metallic glass and cloaking. Some of the documents also discuss methods for manipulating electromagnetic, thermal or radar signatures.

The documents were intended as reference material on potential technologies and aerospace applications, rather than as evidence that those technologies had been demonstrated.

AAWSAP's contractor was Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, a company founded by Robert Bigelow. The newly released paperwork adds detail about the programme's scope and contracting, while many of the underlying technical papers had previously been made public through FOIA releases.

PURSUE and the Trump Directive

President Donald Trump directed his administration in February to begin identifying and releasing government files related to UFOs, UAPs and extraterrestrial life. The first PURSUE tranche was released on 8 May, followed by additional releases in May, June, July and August.

Reaction online included both positive and sceptical commentary, with some researchers highlighting the historical records and others focusing on the footage's limitations and the extent of the redactions. Some commentators questioned the timing or political context of the release.

The department's published material does not identify the released records as evidence of extraterrestrial visitation. A department spokesman said the sixth release formed part of the continuing declassification effort, with further records to follow. The department's PURSUE website provides access to the released records and lists earlier tranches.

The released records add historical and technical detail, but they do not establish the origin of the reported objects.

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UFO Researcher Becomes Christian, Claiming 700 Abductions Were 'Demonic' Entities Stopped by Jesus Christ

The Florida-based researcher says testimonies collected since 1997 changed his view of alleged alien encounters, but the accounts remain unverified

A Florida UFO investigator says 700 alleged abductions ended when witnesses called on Jesus, leading him to conclude the encounters were demonic rather than extraterrestrial (image is for illustration purposes only) 

PHOTO AI Generated image

Joe Jordan, a Florida-based UFO investigator who became a Christian in 1996, says testimonies he has collected since 1997 led him to believe some alleged alien-abduction experiences have a spiritual or demonic explanation.

Jordan began studying UFO reports in the early 1990s after reading about the 1947 Roswell incident. He says he became a Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) field investigator in 1992 and later held a state section director role.

In the years that followed, his research increasingly focused on alleged alien-abduction experiences. In a July 2026 interview, Jordan said he had dealt with 'well over 700' case histories since 1997 involving people who reported alleged abduction encounters.

The 'Bill D' Case and the Pattern Jordan Describes

Jordan's turning point came with an experiencer he identified only as 'Bill D.' Jordan said the man described the experience as dark and having satanic overtones. According to Jordan, the man cried out, 'Jesus, Jesus, help me!' and reported that the experience immediately stopped, he then said he woke up in his bed.

Jordan said the account surprised him because, in his view, researchers he had encountered at the time generally treated alleged abductions as experiences that could not be stopped once they began.

He says he subsequently collected numerous similar testimonies from people who reported that prayers, hymns or invocations of Jesus ended their experiences, and said he had repeatedly encountered testimonies in which the reported experience ended after the person invoked Jesus.

'The way it changed my life is seeing that the power and the name and authority of Jesus Christ convinced me 100 percent that God is real, the Bible is real, Jesus was real,' Jordan said. 'You call on him for help, he's there for help.'

Jordan rejects the idea that people are physically transported aboard spacecraft. He instead describes the experiences as 'demonic spiritual visionary experience[s]' and says, 'Nobody's getting taken anywhere.' He has also argued that involvement with occult or paranormal practices can, in his view, make people more vulnerable to such experiences.

Jordan's Demonic Interpretation Has Echoes in Wider UFO Debate

The idea that some UFO phenomena may have a non-extraterrestrial or interdimensional explanation has been discussed by researchers including Jacques Vallée, while Hal Puthoff has discussed a range of possible 'ultraterrestrial' interpretations, including demonic or djinn-like possibilities. Some Christian commentators have also argued that alleged extraterrestrial encounters could have a demonic explanation.

The idea has even reached the highest levels of US politics. Vice President JD Vance said during a March 27, 2026, podcast appearance that he did not think UFOs were aliens, adding, 'I think they're demons.' Vance added that, in his view, major world religions have long recognised phenomena that are difficult to explain.

Jordan alleges that some UFO researchers have encountered similar testimonies but chose not to discuss them publicly because they feared the effect on their credibility. He has not publicly identified those researchers. Jordan has described the alleged withholding of such accounts by researchers as a 'cover-up.'

Jordan's Conversion and Background

Jordan says his Christian faith predates much of his later research. He has described himself before his conversion as a New Age practitioner who used crystals and said he became a Christian in the autumn of 1996 after a Christian acquaintance gave him a Bible.

Jordan has described himself as a safety professional working for Blue Origin in Florida. He pointed to the US government's longstanding lack of verified evidence that UFOs or UAPs are extraterrestrial.

In a 2024 historical review, the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office said it had found no evidence that any US government investigation, academic-sponsored research or official review had confirmed a UAP represented extraterrestrial technology.

Jordan's own research describes the alleged phenomenon in terms of interdimensional, extradimensional or ultradimensional possibilities rather than 'extraterrestrial biological entities.'

What Has Not Been Verified

The accounts described in this article are based primarily on testimony and claims made by Jordan and people he says he has interviewed. Reports have not independently verified the alleged abduction experiences or established that they were caused by extraterrestrial or demonic entities.

According to Jordan, some of the people whose testimonies he has collected described paralysis, fear and encounters with entities they believed were extraterrestrial, followed by an end to the experience after they invoked Jesus.

Whether the reports reflect a spiritual phenomenon, a psychological or neurological experience, or another explanation remains unresolved. For now, the available evidence establishes the existence of the testimonies, not the supernatural explanation Jordan assigns to them.

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US Military Thought 1952 'Flying Disc' Footage Showed Seagulls Before Declassified Documents Dropped

The records include recent military sightings over the Middle East and Yellow Sea, alongside historical footage reviewed by Project Blue Book

The US military recorded UFO reports ranging from floating orbs travelling at 480 mph over the Middle East to a 1952 'flying disc' case that the Air Force later attributed to seagulls, according to newly released declassified UFO files. The records detail sightings and investigations spanning several decades.

UFOs And Floating Orbs Recorded At 480 MPH

For context, a 2025 US Central Command (CENTCOM) report detailed a sighting involving 'six small spherical objects, grouped together' that were 'frequently changing direction' while travelling at 480 mph. One minute of accompanying video showed the objects flying over what appeared to be a desert region.

The files also include a 2023 video showing circular objects over the Yellow Sea. The objects were spotted by an infrared sensor aboard a US military platform, according to the report.

That same year, a Colorado law enforcement officer recorded a 15-minute mobile phone video of a UFO with 'red, blue and green flashing lights'. The object remained 'silent' while hovering in the sky.

The recent reports appear alongside historical records from the office of the US Air Force Director of Intelligence concerning 'flying disc' incidents recorded between September and December 1952.

Declassified UFO Files Revisit 1952 Flying Disc Footage

A separate 1952 incident involved Chief Warrant Officer Delbert Newhouse, who saw what appeared to be flying discs near Tremonton, Utah, and captured the objects on film. He was travelling from Washington, DC, to Portland, Oregon, when he recorded the footage on 2 July using a Bell and Howell auto master camera.

The 16mm Kodachrome colour motion-picture footage showed a group of bright airborne objects. According to the declassified document webpage, the film later became one of the visual cases reviewed by Project Blue Book, the US Air Force programme that investigated the nature and origin of UFOs from 1952 to 1969.

Investigators considered whether the objects could have been 'pillow balloons'. They contacted General Mills, described in the document as 'the only known manufacturer of pillow balloons at the time', to determine whether a balloon release could account for the incident.

In 1956, the Air Force Photo Reconnaissance Lab concluded that the light in the film 'was caused by seagulls soaring in thermal air currents'. However, another analysis in the files said it was 'believed to be reasonably certain' that the objects' reflection brightness exceeded that of natural diffusing objects such as white birds against the sky.

The records also describe a separate report made the day before Newhouse filmed the objects. An unidentified correspondent reported seeing a 'white object, shaped like an "elongated oval"' but 'fatter than a cigar', with an estimated length of about 100 feet.

The newly released files follow an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in February 2026 that, according to the source, declassified most information concerning the government's unresolved strange-sighting cases. The release places recent military observations alongside historical records documenting earlier investigations into reported aerial objects.

{ https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/science }

Scientists Heard Earth’s Magnetic Field Collapse 41,000 Years Ago, And It Sounds Straight Out Of A Horror Movie

Scientists have recreated the sound of an ancient disruption in Earth’s magnetic field, revealing a rare planetary event from 41,000 years ago.

Written by Lydia Amazouz

© Credit: Shutterstock

Scientists have transformed data from one of Earth’s most dramatic magnetic disturbances into an unusual soundscape, allowing listeners to hear the changes that affected the planet’s protective magnetic shield around 41,000 years ago. The reconstruction was presented by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of its work exploring Earth’s magnetic history and the forces shaping our planet.

The audio representation comes from the period known as the Laschamps event, a temporary weakening and partial reversal of Earth’s magnetic field that occurred during the last ice age. Researchers used measurements of magnetic particles preserved in geological records to recreate how the field changed over time.

How Scientists Transformed Earth’s Magnetic History into Sound

The Earth’s magnetic field is generated by movements inside the planet’s outer core, where flowing molten iron creates a global shield against charged particles from the Sun and space. Over geological timescales, this field can weaken, shift direction, and recover.

During the Laschamps event, magnetic strength dropped significantly compared with normal conditions. The magnetic north and south poles did not permanently switch places, but the field became unstable before returning to its current configuration.

Researchers recreated this period by combining evidence from ancient rocks, sediments, and other natural archives that recorded changes in magnetic conditions. The data was then converted into sound frequencies, creating a representation of how the magnetic fluctuations evolved.

The European Space Agency published the sonification project to demonstrate how space and planetary science data can be experienced through different senses. The agency has used satellite observations and scientific models to study changes in Earth’s magnetic environment.

The resulting soundscape contains deep, unsettling tones created from variations in magnetic field intensity and movement. The audio does not represent a threat from the past, but provides a new perspective on the dynamic nature of Earth’s invisible shield.

Strength of the magnetic field at Earth’s surface.
Credit: ESA

A Magnetic Disturbance Linked to Changes across the Planet

The Laschamps event occurred during a period when Earth was already experiencing major environmental transformations. Scientists continue to examine how changes in the magnetic field may have interacted with conditions on the surface.

Researchers studying this ancient period have found links between the event and other records of environmental shifts.

“This is consistent with climate and environmental changes from this time observed in other records from across the globe, such as the mysterious extinction of Australia’s megafauna.”

The same period also overlaps with evidence of early human cultural activity. “Curiously, it also coincides with some of our oldest cave art on record, prompting the researchers to hypothesize that the event could have driven humans indoors.”

Scientists stress that the relationship between the magnetic event, environmental changes, and human behavior remains an area of investigation. The evidence does not show that the magnetic disruption directly caused these developments, but the timing has encouraged researchers to explore possible connections.

The study of past magnetic changes helps scientists understand how Earth’s protective system behaves during periods of instability. These ancient records provide a long-term perspective that cannot be obtained from modern observations alone.

The South Atlantic Anomaly and Today’s Changing Magnetic Shield

Modern researchers are also monitoring unusual areas of Earth’s magnetic field, including the South Atlantic Anomaly, a region where the field is weaker than surrounding areas. This zone affects satellite operations because spacecraft passing through it can encounter higher levels of energetic particles.

The anomaly has attracted attention because its behavior is not identical across the region. Scientists are studying whether current changes represent normal variations in Earth’s magnetic system or part of a longer pattern.

“The South Atlantic Anomaly is not just a single block,” said Chris Finlay, professor of geomagnetism at the Technical University of Denmark, who led a 2025 study examining the growth in the anomaly.

“It’s changing differently towards Africa than it is near South America. There’s something special happening in this region that is causing the field to weaken in a more intense way.”

Researchers continue to use satellite missions, including ESA’s Swarm satellites, to monitor magnetic changes around the planet. These observations provide detailed measurements of how the field evolves over years and decades.

The ancient Laschamps event and modern magnetic variations occur on very different timescales, but studying both helps scientists build a broader picture of Earth’s magnetic behavior.

Why Ancient Magnetic Events Matter for Earth’s Future

Understanding past magnetic disruptions gives scientists information about the possible range of changes that can occur within Earth’s magnetic system. These records also support research into space weather, satellite protection, and the interaction between Earth and its surrounding environment.

“Understanding these extreme events is important for their occurrence in the future, space climate predictions, and assessing the effects on the environment and on the Earth system,” said Sanja Panovska of GFZ Potsdam, Germany, who reconstructed the magnetic field data behind the sonification back in 2024.

The recreated sound of the Laschamps event offers a new method for communicating complex planetary science. By turning invisible magnetic movements into audio, researchers can make changes that normally exist only in datasets more accessible.

{ https://dailygalaxy.com/category/news/ }

To bring astronauts back from Mars, the oxidizer needed for the return launch will have to be produced directly on the planet. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researchers have developed a small plasma reactor for this purpose that splits carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere. That part of the process is already working well. The harder task is capturing the oxygen before it recombines with the other reaction products.

Artist’s illustration of a possible residential base on Mars together with other surface facilities. Credit: NASA

Tons of Oxidizer

Crewed missions to Mars are planned in the coming decades by NASA and China, Universe Today notes. In rockets that use liquid oxygen, the oxidizer accounts for most of the mass loaded into the tanks. According to agency estimates, launching an ascent vehicle carrying four astronauts from the Martian surface would require about 25 tons of oxygen. Transporting that much from Earth would significantly increase the mass of the entire mission.

Real-world experience so far has been far more modest. Using the MOXIE instrument aboard the Perseverance rover, 16 runs were carried out between 2021 and 2023, producing a total of 122 grams of oxygen. The amount required is roughly two hundred thousand times greater.

Cold Plasma

MIT graduate student Lanie McKinney led the development under the supervision of Associate Professor Carmen Guerra-García, according to MIT News. In her small reactor, CO2 molecules, which make up almost the entire Martian atmosphere, were split by cold plasma into oxygen and carbon monoxide.

In this state of matter, energy is transferred mainly to the electrons, while the remaining particles stay relatively cool. This makes it possible to break chemical bonds without heating the system to about 800°C, as is required by the MOXIE instrument.

The device is a nanosecond repetitively pulsed dielectric barrier discharge system, or NRP-DBD. Its tube is filled with beads. Lanie McKinney studied how the material used for this packing affects the splitting process. A description of the work has not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed journal; the results are currently known only from the researcher’s university profile.

Separating the Oxygen

According to Lanie McKinney, the splitting stage has been made to work very well. The challenge begins afterward. The output is a mixture. As long as oxygen remains close to carbon monoxide, some of it recombines with it to form CO2 again.

To prevent this, the researcher combined the reactor with a membrane that selectively allows oxygen to pass through. Such a membrane is intended to remove the gas from the reaction zone faster than it can react again.

It is still unclear how the chemically active plasma environment will affect the membrane itself, because the combination of the two systems has not yet been studied in depth. Lanie McKinney acknowledged that the team does not know for certain what result to expect.

Recycling Waste and Lunar Bricks

Outside her dissertation work, Lanie McKinney participated in NASA competitions as part of the student Space Resources Workshop group. The CERBERUZ team, which she co-led, won the second phase of the LunaRecycle Challenge and received $775,000. The award was given for a system that grinds mixed waste into powder for casting spare parts and producing filament for 3D printing.

Another project carried out as part of an academic course brought engineers and architects together. They looked for a way to protect lunar habitats from radiation using only local resources. Their solution was regolith bricks that could be cast and stacked without mortar or any other binding material.

• Posted in News, Science, Tech

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The oldest meteorites still contain organic matter with oxygen that it acquired before asteroids had even formed. The source of the oxygen was most likely water in the young Solar System. In the most primitive samples, interaction with liquid inside these bodies over billions of years barely changed its isotopic composition. Geochemists at Harvard University reached this conclusion after measuring the ratio of the three oxygen isotopes in the organic material with high precision. The result helps determine where this material formed and also sheds light on the origin of the reference line scientists use to compare the composition of primitive minerals.

Interior section of a carbonaceous chondrite containing organic matter from the early Solar System. Credit: Mikhail Petaev (Harvard University). Source: EurekAlert

Seven Meteorites with the Same Signature

The isotopic composition of the organic matter turned out to be almost identical in seven carbonaceous chondrites from different chemical groups. These are stony meteorites that have not melted since the formation of the Solar System and contain up to 4% carbon by mass. The studied samples included members of the CI, CM, and CR classes, as well as the rare Bells and Tarda meteorites.

The deviation in the proportion of oxygen-18 from the terrestrial standard fell within a narrow range of 10.4 to 12.3 per mille. If the organic matter had exchanged atoms with water inside asteroids for a long time, the authors calculated that this value would have ranged from 27 to 58 per mille.

The results were published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The first author, Daniel Crocker, and co-author David Johnston work in Harvard University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

A Reference Line Called into Question

Oxygen atoms occur in three forms with masses of 16, 17, and 18, known as isotopes. On Earth, the ratios between them change according to a constant rule, so all terrestrial samples line up along a single line on a graph. The oldest minerals in meteorites fall along a different trend. This difference is explained by the mixing of two oxygen reservoirs with different proportions of the lightest isotope in the young Solar System.

A 520-gram fragment of the Allende meteorite. This carbonaceous chondrite fell in Mexico on February 8, 1969. Credit: H. Raab. Source: Wikipedia

This pattern was first described in 1977 using samples from the Allende meteorite and was called the Carbonaceous Chondrite Anhydrous Mineral line, or CCAM. Other variants were proposed later. Some scientists considered CCAM merely a copy of the original line that had later been shifted by secondary processes, such as exchange with water. The organic matter from all seven samples studied fell on or near this line. If secondary processes had really shifted the line, the minerals and organic matter would have had to end up by chance in the same place on the graph, which the authors consider unlikely.

An Unexpected Effect of Heating

Organic matter from six meteorites that had experienced thermal effects inside their parent bodies or during impacts showed a different isotopic composition. The proportions of oxygen-17 and oxygen-18 decreased, even though the loss of volatile substances and exchange of atoms with the surrounding environment usually increase them.

To test this, organic matter from the Mighei meteorite was kept in a vacuum for one hour at 500 and 600°C. This chondrite fell in 1889 near the village of Migiia in what is now Mykolaiv Region. In the study, it served as a sample of primitive organic matter that had not previously undergone strong heating.

After the experiment, the composition of the sample shifted in the same way as in naturally heated chondrites. It is likely that before thermal alteration, the organic matter in all of the meteorites studied had the same heavy-oxygen content.

The Cold Outskirts of the Protoplanetary Disk

The authors concluded that the organic matter acquired its oxygen during its own synthesis, before it became incorporated into asteroids. The source was probably water depleted in the lightest isotope. Enrichment in nitrogen-15 and deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, points to a cold environment exposed to intense radiation. Such conditions, as Interesting Engineering writes, existed in the icy outskirts of the young Solar System.

Artist’s illustration of a protoplanetary disk

The authors explain the identical composition of samples from different meteorites in two possible ways. Either a single reservoir of organic matter spread throughout the outer part of the disk, or the same chemical process occurred everywhere within it.

An Answer Through Models

If carbonaceous chondrites delivered most of Earth’s volatile substances, then this organic matter became a major source of carbon and nitrogen for the young planet, the authors argue. These elements later helped make Earth suitable for life.

The two possible origins of the organic matter will now be tested using models of protoplanetary-disk chemistry. Scientists will also need to explain why the oxygen in meteoritic material is compositionally close to terrestrial oxygen, while our star, according to solar-wind measurements, is enriched in oxygen-16.

• Posted in News, Science

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UFO or drone? Strange object lights up Tehran sky 50 years after famous sighting

Tehran is once again looking up at a mysterious object in the night sky — almost 50 years after the Iranian capital became the centre of one of the world's most talked-about UFO sightings.

Videos circulating on social media appear to show a brightly lit object hovering or moving slowly over Tehran.

The footage has triggered a familiar question: UFO, drone, aircraft — or something far less mysterious? For now, there is no clear answer.

Iranian authorities have not publicly identified what was captured in the videos.

TEHRAN'S 1976 UFO MYSTERY

The timing has added another layer to the intrigue. The new footage appeared almost 50 years after a documented aerial incident over Tehran on September 19, 1976.

That case began with reports from residents in the Shemiran area who said they had seen a strange, bright object in the sky.

A declassified US government report later recorded the account of the Imperial Iranian Air Force and the response by two F-4 Phantom fighter jets.

According to the report, the first F-4 lost its instrumentation and communications as it approached the object. The systems reportedly returned after the pilot turned away. A second F-4 was then sent to investigate and acquired the object on radar.

The second crew reported another unusual development when a smaller object appeared to separate from the main one. The pilot attempted to engage it, but the aircraft's weapons-control system and communications reportedly failed at that moment.

The 1976 encounter was subsequently documented in US government records and remains one of the better-known historical UFO cases involving military aircraft.

SOCIAL MEDIA THEORIES

Some social media users suggested that the lights could be from a military drone or multiple drones flying together, while others speculated that the object could be an aircraft or some form of unidentified aerial phenomenon. None of these theories has been independently confirmed.

The footage also prompted a wave of humorous reactions online, with suggestions ranging from Aladdin's flying carpet to Chinese LED lights.

“From the colours of this UFO, I think this must be a flying object of a female Alien. Just see, how beautifully she has decorated her interstellar spaceship with amazingly colourful lights,” one person wrote.

Another joked, “The aliens are here to broker peace between Trump and Iran.”

A third commenter had a more practical question: “Why are aliens using cheap RGB lights?”

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Mystery object spotted over Iran sparks buzz over US 'Black Manta' spy jet

Was it a UFO, drone or something else entirely? A mysterious object spotted over Iran amid its conflict with the US has sparked fresh speculation about America's shadowy aircraft - the 'Black Manta'.

US Black Manta Iran

Written By: Abhishek De

Amid renewed fighting between the US and Iran, a mysterious object with bright, multi-coloured lights was seen hovering over Tehran this week. It looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. The sighting has now revived speculation about a highly secretive US aircraft, allegedly called the TR-3B 'Black Manta'. While the US has never acknowledged it, there have been previous sightings of a large, dark triangular object moving quietly at low altitudes - similar to what was seen over Iran.

The mysterious object was first spotted gliding through the sky near the Azadegan Expressway in Tehran on September 20. The visuals show a large, crescent-shaped aircraft with multi-coloured lights. On September 21, another video emerged showing a strange cluster of lights moving across the skies in Iran's Zahedan.

DRONE OR MYSTERIOUS 'BLACK MANTA'?

The sudden appearance of the mysterious objects has sparked a wave of theories. Some suggested it was an illuminated kite. But not all were convinced, considering the huge size of the object.

Others suggested that it could be a mystery drone or even an extraterrestrial object. So far, the Iranian military or government has remained tight-lipped on the sightings.

A section of experts have revived an even more intriguing theory - the enigmatic 'Black Manta' aircraft. However, there is no public evidence to confirm the existence of such a jet. Its existence is purely speculative. Despite this, the 'Black Manta' legend refuses to die.

What has given fresh momentum to the 'Black Manta' theory is Donald Trump's recent claim that the US has "weapons that nobody has ever seen before" and that are known "only to a select few". The US President made the remarks while threatening to "wipe out" Iran.

Against this backdrop, the mysterious sightings over Iran have once again brought the alleged 'Black Manta' into focus.

WHAT IS THE TR-3B 'BLACK MANTA'?

Over the decades, witnesses have described it as a black, triangle-shaped UFO with a bright central light that hovers and departs with unnerving suddenness. There have been odd satellite silhouettes that match the dimensions of the 'Black Manta ', but there has been no definitive proof of its existence.

The world got a glimpse of it in 2021, when Iranian media shared an image of a triangle-shaped object on board a US aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea. A report by the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency speculated that it could actually be the top-secret TR-3 'Black Manta'.

Conspiracy theorists believe the supersonic stealth spy jet flies using anti-gravity technology. While having no gravity is impossible, its effects can be reduced or countered in various ways.

According to a report in Medium, one theory suggests that the jet uses nuclear energy to create high-pressure plasma, which creates an anti-gravity field around it.

The 'Black Manta' is also speculated to have special thrust systems that allow it to quickly change speed, direction and position. Moreover, plasma produced through nuclear reactions can reduce an aircraft's radar signature.

This is believed to make the aircraft harder to detect, making it capable of flying long distances.

While there have been independent investigations into the mysterious sightings, the most detailed one was conducted by the National Institute of Discovery Science (NIDS). The Las Vegas-based research group conducted an extensive investigation into sightings of black, triangle-like objects.

Before it was disbanded in 2004, the NIDS collected more than 150 reports from the US, Canada and Europe.

It concluded that the object appeared to be an "extremely silent" aircraft and could quickly accelerate from a hovering position using powerful nuclear-based technology. It suggested that the primary function of the 'Black Manta' was intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

However, these claims have never been independently confirmed. The mysterious 'Black Manta' may remain part of aviation folklore.

But if we look at history, there have been instances of US aircraft flying in secrecy for years before being acknowledged by Washington. The most popular being the F-117 Nighthawk, whose distinctive triangular outline generated much intrigue in the late 1980s.

The Nighthawk, believed to be the world's first operational stealth aircraft, was spotted several times since 1983, but was not publicly acknowledged until 1988.

THE 1976 UFO SIGHTING OVER IRAN

The latest videos have also brought back memories of a popular UFO sighting over Tehran in 1976. On September 19, 1976, Iranian authorities reported seeing a bright object in the sky. While Iran sent F-4 fighter jets to probe the sighting, the identity of the object was never established.

Several years later, a pilot of one of the F-4s recounted that the object appeared to launch multiple glowing orbs that allegedly circled his plane. The 1976 incident also found its way into US government records. However, the details are sketchy.

For now, the latest sightings over Iran remain unexplained. There is no evidence that the object was the alleged 'Black Manta', or even that such an aircraft exists. But history has shown that some of America's most secretive aircraft have remained hidden from public view for years. The 'Black Manta', for now, remains an aircraft of mystery.

{ https://www.indiatoday.in/ }

Space Rocks Carry Hundreds of Thousands of Complex Organic Molecules—and We Just Photographed Them

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{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

A mysterious object hovering over Tehran, Iran, has been captured on video, sparking speculation about what was actually seen in the night sky. 

The footage was reportedly recorded on Sunday by a witness on the Azadegan Highway in Tehran at around 7:30 p.m. local time. The object appeared to hover above the city, displaying several bright, colorful lights and a shape that some viewers described as unusual or even distinctly V-shaped. 

Some suggested that the lights could have been part of an elaborate drone, arguing that the unusual colors and patterns were more consistent with a human-made aircraft than with a conventional UFO. Others proposed a much simpler explanation: could the mysterious lights have been a kite carrying LEDs? 

Rep. Tim Burchett reveals that it could be a secret U.S. weapons system that mimic Alien Technology. He noted that reports of unusual objects seem to be appearing with increasing frequency. 

For now, there is no confirmed evidence establishing whether the Tehran object was a UFO, a drone, balloons, or a kite or something else entirely.

Rep. Tim Burchett Reveals Viral ‘UFO’ Spotted Over Iran Could Be Secret U.S. Weapons System That Mimic Alien Technology

"It's legit. It's something up there. It's just, what is it? We're seeing more and more of this stuff..."

"They're always V-shaped. I always have a hard time… pic.twitter.com/hKYxyfUPlP

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 21, 2026

{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

EXCLUSIVE - The chilling threat to Americans floating over their heads... as insiders reveal how the next world war will actually take shape

By CHRIS MELORE, US DEPUTY SCIENCE EDITOR and JON MICHAEL RAASCH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT and ELINA SHIRAZI, US SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER

After a string of mysterious rocket launches by SpaceX this month, the US military has finally confirmed what many suspected: space-based weapons have been placed into Earth's orbit.

The unprecedented announcement came after SpaceX would only say that they were carrying top-secret payloads for the US Space Force, launching a pair of rockets from their California base in less than a week.

Now, the top uniformed officer in America's newest military branch, USSF Chief of Space Operations General Douglas Schiess, has told the Daily Mail that space has quietly become a secret battlefield - and the US is in a struggle with other superpowers to control it.

Schiess said: 'Space is both a battlefield and the backbone of our Joint Force. 

'We face determined and credible adversaries who are building and fielding counterspace systems at incredible speeds to directly target the United States' space advantage.'

'Let me be clear: Today, Guardians [Space Force personnel] operate on-orbit weapons that can defend the Joint Force against space-enabled attacks.'

On September 16, SpaceX launched a classified payload into orbit for the US Space Force, which is charged with defending the country's satellites and communications systems

A Space Force spokesperson specifically singled out Russia and China, claiming that both nations had been testing weapons for use in space for the last two decades.

While the Pentagon has not revealed what the September 2026 rocket launches were carrying for the Space Force, the White House has already made it clear that one of the military's goals is building President Donald Trump's 'Golden Dome' - a giant net of sensors and missile-interceptor satellites around the globe.

On September 14, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink made the shock announcement that those interceptors had already gone from the development phase to 'flight-ready hardware' in less than a year.

Speaking at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Meink said the US was prepared to deal with 'evolving threats' but did not elaborate on the weapon's offensive capabilities or when it was put into orbit.

Space Force was created in 2019 with the main mission of protecting satellites used for communications, navigation and surveillance.

However, a military spokesperson told the Daily Mail the US is facing increased threats that could originate from hostile satellites in Earth orbit - comparing the vast vacuum just miles above Earth's surface to an actual battle zone.

'The US has warned about Russian and Chinese weapons testing and operationalization since 2007. Due to their actions, it is no longer a question that space is a warfighting domain,' they said.

'Acknowledging our readiness to protect and defend against adversary use of space weapons deters aggression. The space domain is contested, and we must be able to secure our nation's interests in space - that is why the Space Force was established as the sixth military service.'

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink confirmed the US military placed weapons in orbit above Earth

President Trump has wants a 'Golden Dome' missile defense system by the end of the decade

Pictured: A hypothetical scenario showing how the US 'Golden Dome' system would activate and prevent a nuclear attack on America

The source did not reveal what the new weapons placed in orbit were capable of, when they were launched into space or how these systems operate. 

Five years ago, the Russian military showed how lethal its space-based satellites could be, successfully testing a hit-to-kill anti-satellite missile in 2021.

The device obliterated a defunct, Soviet-era spy satellite launched in 1982, sparking condemnation from around the world.

It is believed that the Golden Dome, which the White House wants completed by the end of the decade, will consist of sensors and tracking satellites, ground and sea-based missile platforms and a planned 'constellation' of space-based interceptors.

Similar to the defense missile used by Israel, the 'dome' would act like a layered shield meant to detect and shoot down missiles and other airborne attacks on the American homeland.

The interceptors in space would sit in orbit and, if used, try to ram an enemy missile early in flight before it can drop warheads or decoys.

Besides the interceptors, Golden Dome is also expected to feature sensor and enemy tracking platforms sitting in orbit.

Those satellites would watch for missile launches from foreign nations or other adversaries, follow the threat across the sky and feed targeting data to the interceptors on land, at sea or in space.

Officials want them there because a missile can appear with only minutes of warning, and space is the only place that can see almost the entire surface of the Earth at one time.

While the Pentagon has not revealed the specifics of these new systems moving into the 'flight-ready' status, lawmakers in Washington have already done the math on how many interceptors will need to be launched to complete Trump's plan.

A so-called 'golden dome' would help protect the United States from outer space

The US has deployed a space weapon in the Earth's orbit for the first time, its air force said

According to a May 2026 report from the Congressional Budget Office, the US would need approximately 7,800 interceptor satellites in low Earth orbit to effectively defend the country.

That estimate came from an assessment of what it would take to stop ten long-range missiles, possibly nuclear-capable ICBMs, which were fired at America at the same time.

The CBO report also laid out a jaw-dropping $1.2 trillion price tag for the Golden Dome. This would cover the development, deployment and operation of these satellites for the next 20 years.

There is one type of weapon that the US has agreed to not launch into space - nuclear missiles or other weapons of mass destruction. These typically include chemical and biological weapons.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which the US signed and ratified, states that countries may not place nuclear devices or other similar weapons into Earth orbit, on the Moon or elsewhere in outer space.

However, that does not ban conventional weapons, signal jammers, missile interceptors or military satellites. 

There are more than 110 'states parties' - meaning countries which are legally bound to obey it - that have signed the agreement over the years.

US lawmakers have raised concerns Russia wants a nuclear anti-satellite weapon in space

All major countries which have ventured into space are parties, including Russia and China.

Despite that, US lawmakers, including Republican Mike Turner, the former head of the House intelligence committee, have claimed that Russia is prepared to violate that agreement and take the space arms race nuclear.

In 2024, Turner demanded that the Biden Administration declassify all intelligence on a 'serious national security threat' that was believed to involve Russian President Vladimir Putin seeking to deploy a nuclear anti-satellite weapon in space.

Moscow denied the claim. Putin said Russia opposed nuclear weapons in space, and then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said there were 'no such projects.'

{ https://www.dailymail.com/news/index.html }

It might sound like the plot of a bonkers sci–fi film, but the world has now witnessed the very first human vs robot boxing match.

Influencer Frankie Lapenna stepped into the ring last Friday to take on a 6ft–tall humanoid robot with a worrying resemblance to the Terminator.

The event took place in San Francisco, hosted by the robot fighting company REK, which controlled the robot remotely.

While Mr Lapenna made a valiant effort, the fight didn't end well for him.

As the influencer stepped into the ring wearing a helmet and protective pads, his visibly nervous coach said: 'I'm scared for you, man.'

The fight started with Mr Lapenna actually landing a few solid punches that rock the lumbering robot's head back and sent it stumbling.

But humanity's hopes didn't hold out for long as the robot soon countered with a devastating flurry of kicks that sent him flying across the cage.

However, although it might not look that way in the clip, REK says that Mr Lapenna actually won the fight and went on to tackle an even bigger bot later the same evening.

Influencer Frankie Lapenna stepped into the ring last Friday to take on a 6ft–tall humanoid robot with a worrying resemblance to the Terminator

Cix Liv, CEO of REK, told the Daily Mail that hosting human vs robot fights was not something the company originally planned to get into.

The San Francisco–based firm's main business is staging fights between remote–controlled robots, like a real–life version of the film Real Steel.

However, when Mr Lapenna reached out about two months ago saying he wanted to get into the ring himself, the opportunity seemed too good to turn down.

'When he reached out to us, he said he didn't want to wear any protective clothing,' Mr Liv told the Daily Mail.

'But we told him that he had to, and when he saw what the robot could do, he actually said that he needed more.'

REK described the event as its first human-versus-humanoid robot fight.

In the fights, Mr Lapenna wore motorcycle gear to shield him from the worst of the blows and spiked boxing gloves to cushion his hands.

On social media, fans were terrified by the footage of a robot pummelling a human to the floor.

On Instagram, one commenter wrote: 'Didn't we have, like, 6 movies explaining why this is a bad idea?

REK, the company hosting the fight, says that Frankie wore motorcycle protective gear and spiked boxing gloves so that he could stand a chance of surviving the robot's attacks 

'This could've been a Black Mirror episode,' chimed in another.

While one bluntly wrote: 'Stop. Teaching. Them. To. Fight.'

Across the entire evening, the influencer actually took on three robots, starting with a tiny Unitree G1 and working his way up to face two of the hulking six–foot bots seen in the viral clip.

Those large robots are adapted versions of the ENGINEAI T800, which weighs up to 187lb (85kg) and costs $40,500 (£30,332).

Although they are not specifically built for fighting, their powerful limbs make an extremely powerful base for a robotic warrior.

Mr Liv says: 'We have like 500 try–hard men emailing us saying they're going to fight the robot, but they don't realise that it's like trying to punch a metal wall.'

While the average adult can kick with about 650lb (294kg) of force, REK says its large robots deliver 850lb (385kg) of force with their blows.

Although it can't be seen in this teaser clip, Mr Liv says that the influencer actually 'defeated' the massive bot seen kicking him around the ring.

The 'Terminator' robot was just one of three bots that the influencer took on that night, with each round seeing the human fighter sent flying by kicks 

Mr Lapenna apparently managed to unbalance the bot and send it tumbling into the wall, where it seized up and 'ripped its head off'.

Mr Liv says he doesn't want to give away the results of the next fight, which will be released in a video tomorrow, but cautions that things didn't go so well for the human fighter.

Despite that, the only real damage sustained by Mr Lapenna is a self–inflicted hand injury that came from 'punching metal', and the influencer was otherwise unhurt.

Watch the video here:

The unusual showdown quickly attracted attention on social media, with users speculating about whether human-controlled robots could eventually become part of professional combat sports.

Mr Liv says that the company had never considered hosting human fights long term and added that this was always intended to be 'a stunt'.

But with so many people already begging to get in the ring, he says: 'We'll have to do it again.'

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{ https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/index.html }

‘UFOs and God’ movie: Why the year’s most unsettling film isn’t just about aliens

Scientists in California say that if Venus once had a moon of its own, the planet would inevitably have “eaten” it. The moon would have gradually lost angular momentum, eventually ending with a fall onto the planet’s surface. However, no traces of such an event have yet been found.

Venus. Source: www.skyatnightmagazine.com

A Moon of Venus

Recently, people on Earth were able to watch the Moon “eat” Venus. Of course, this was only an illusion caused by the fact that the two objects happened to line up from Earth’s point of view. However, as phys.org reports, scientists from the University of California, Riverside suggest that Venus may once have had a moon of its own, which it later consumed. A paper on the subject has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.

Astronomers have long been puzzled by the question of why Venus, which is very similar to Earth in mass and size and lies right next to us, has nothing comparable to the Moon. The new paper proposes looking for the answer in what is happening to our own moon.

Earth’s Moon is thought to have formed shortly after a large body collided with the very young planet. Some of the debris gathered in orbit, much closer to the surface than the Moon is today. Since then, the “jewel of the night” has been moving very slowly away from us.

This happens because Earth itself rotates around its axis much faster than the Moon orbits it. It is known that the Moon transferred its rotational momentum until its rotation became synchronized, so that it always faces us with the same side. But the reverse is also true: Earth very slowly transfers part of its daily rotational momentum to the Moon, causing it to gradually move farther away.

Venus “Ate Its Moon”

For Earth, one possible scenario for losing the Moon would be for it to escape the planet’s gravitational influence. For Venus, however, the new study suggests the opposite. Venus rotates around its own axis extremely slowly, once every 243 Earth days. If it had a moon, that moon would orbit the planet in a much shorter period than this. Instead of gaining angular momentum, the moon would lose it.

As a result, the orbital period of a hypothetical Venusian moon would continue to shrink until the moon eventually crashed into the planet. Scientists carried out computer simulations with different moons, first for Earth to verify that they always move outward, and then for Venus, where they consistently fell toward the planet. The more massive the moon, the sooner the collision occurred.

Doubts and Implications

The idea is elegant and plausible, and the study’s authors suggest that our neighboring planet may indeed have had a moon in the past. However, there are no signs that such a moon ever existed, and most scientists doubt that Venus could ever have had anything massive in orbit.

The problem is that if Earth’s large Moon originated from a giant impact, then something similar would also have had to happen to Venus early in the history of the Solar System. Two such events within a single planetary system would be quite a coincidence.

Nevertheless, the new study is important. It shows that large moons orbiting slowly rotating planets are doomed eventually to fall onto them. This matters when considering what we should expect from Earth-like planets orbiting other stars.

As for the absence of impact traces on Venus, the explanation may be that the planet’s entire surface underwent a major resurfacing event in the relatively recent past, around a billion years ago. So even if such an event was caused by the fall of a moon, no traces would remain — just as no remnants remain of the oceans in which life may once have existed.

• Posted in News, Science

{ https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

Now, a research team led by Na Li, a professor at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Bo Dai, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech, is tackling the question with a new open-source benchmark called RLE-Bench. The benchmark measures whether general-purpose AI agents can complete tasks associated with building and engineering robotic systems.

RLE-Bench evaluates whether an AI agent can understand how software interacts with sensors, motors, mechanical components, and the laws of physics. It includes 48 tasks across four areas, ranging from developing control and perception algorithms to designing robot hardware and interfaces.

Some challenges involve creating algorithms that allow robots to move, teaching robotic systems to perform tasks, interpreting sensor data, and designing hardware components and interfaces.

“Benchmarks are important because they give the field a common measuring stick, allowing us to compare systems under the same conditions and identify where important capability gaps remain,” Li said in a statement. “Robotics already has many valuable benchmarks, but many focus primarily on learning and evaluating control policies. RLE-Bench takes a broader view. Can an AI system perform the range of engineering tasks required to make a robotic system actually work?”

The tasks take place in simulation, where AI agents can create code, run their solutions, review the results, and make decisions to improve their work. Importantly, however, the challenges are designed around real-world engineering constraints.

An AI system, for example, might produce a design that appears successful in simulation but fails once factors such as weight, torque, balance, or geometry are taken into consideration.

Li notes that the current benchmark is only the beginning.

“RLE-Bench 1.0 is only a starting point,” he says. “We hope researchers and robotics practitioners will contribute tasks based on the engineering problems they encounter in their own work. Our goal for RLE-Bench 2.0 is to capture a much broader picture of what an AI system needs to do to function as a robot learning engineer.”

In one example, an AI agent must design a mobile base capable of supporting multiple robotic arms that need to reach objects at different heights on a shelf. While the AI-generated design might appear to work digitally, its real-world counterpart could be unstable and tip over.

China’s Robot Olympics 

China seems to be advancing quickly with regard to both robots and AI. In August 2026, Beijing hosted the second World Humanoid Robot Games, an event that put robotic systems through a variety of physical challenges.

The games featured more than 2,000 robots from 666 teams across 16 countries, with events involving potential real-world applications such as household tasks, industrial operations, and emergency rescue.

RLE-Bench and competitions like the World Humanoid Robot Games evaluate very different aspects of robotics and therefore cannot be directly compared. RLE-Bench asks whether general-purpose AI agents can perform the engineering work required to design and develop robotic systems, while physical competitions provide developers with opportunities to test how robots perform under real-world conditions.

Together, these approaches illustrate two sides of a growing challenge in robotics: developing AI systems capable of reasoning about physical machines and determining whether the resulting robotic technologies can actually perform reliably outside a simulated environment.

• Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.